No Subject
by musik-fan-95
Summary: This story is about a group of six teenagers. They go to a school like Hogwarts, and everything seems normal except that Valentine has been banished to their world, and he is trying to destroy it. Its up to them to stop him.dramatic music sounds.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**The corridor was built out of an icy-looking white marble, yet it was strangely warm. Red velvet curtains shrouded intricately carved windows while fiery torches hissed and sizzled in their holders, throwing dancing shadows on the marble. Tight-lipped portraits of men and women hung from the walls, their glazed eyes glaring into space. Isn't this a cheerful place to be.**

**I was escorted down this very formal place by a young woman who was more cheerful than she looked. Her name was Julia and she had a short black bob and oversized earrings hanging from her earlobes. She worked in Admin and was gossiping with me with great gusto-though why she chose to get her gossip from a fourteen year old girl was beyond me. **

"**This is the place," Julia said brightly, stopping in front of a solid mahogany door with a daunting look about it. It almost looked like a dungeon door. Julia saw my nervous look and said brightly, "Oh, don't worry, you'll be fine. There's nothing scary about interviews." Says the one who could probably watch Chucky murder people and laugh. **

"**Oh, right," I said. "Nothing to be scared of." I raised my head up high and squared my shoulders. **

"**Good luck," Julia smiled, opening the door.**

**The room inside was spacious. Elaborate glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling and the carpet was soft, almost cloud-like. At least, it seemed cloud-like and soft. I was wearing thick boots. Anyway, the thick velvet curtains were pulled away from the windows with gold cords, revealing a white blizzard outside. A fire was roaring in the fireplace, there were tables laden with food, and there seemed to be about a million chairs set out in rows. There were quite a few people sitting, from a buff guy with an afro to a redheaded girl with perfectly straight hair that I was insanely jealous of. Opposite me, there was a giant red banner with a logo that read: "The Richmond Academy for the Magically Talented" in elaborate gold calligraphy.**

**The Richmond Academy is one of the best magic academies in the whole country. And the government pays your fees if you have an extreme magical talent. The government is paying half my fees so I must have **_**some**_** talent, right? Anyway, I stay with the Academy for five years, so I'll be nineteen when I graduate and I get a mage license saying I'm trained to practice magic. Then I'll go to uni and make a name for myself. As you can see, I have big plans for the future.**

**Right now, however, the Academy is testing future students' magical abilities, as a sort of final test. The people who don't cut it, well, they don't get to go to Richmonds, while the rest of us are graded by our abilities. I've heard that some people train and study for this months in advance, but I was going to trust in my abilities...and wing it.**

**Everyone was crowded around the fireplace, so I sat near a window close enough to get its heat, but faraway enough not to be smothered. I saw a couple of people in suits and felt underdressed in my green coat and black jeans. I was carrying a bag with me-not exactly a bag, more like an oversized handbag- and I pulled out my I-phone, stuck the earphones in my ears and picked a song, turning up the volume until I couldn't hear the animated, nervous chatter around me. It wouldn't last long, though. I noticed a guy walking towards me. He looked my age and seemed taller than me, which isn't saying much because I'm kinda short, more like midgety, and he had nice dark hair and eyes that were black, they were so dark. He had an arrogant swagger and plonked himself in the seat next to me before saying something I couldn't hear because Paramore was blasting through my ears.**

**I yanked out my earphones. "I'm sorry, what?"**

**He looked amused, and I must admit, he was pretty hot. "I said, are your parents terrorists? Because you're the bomb."**

**I laughed so hard; I nearly choked and fell out of my chair.**

**When I finally regained my composure, I looked at him and said, "If I had a giant, raw, scaly fish with me, I would slap you with it."**

"**Oh," he said, looking crestfallen. "But it was a good one, right?"**

"**No. No it was not."**

"**Oh."**

**There was now a very awkward silence between us. I was contemplating listening to my music again, but then he spoke up. "My name is Kyle. Like Kyle from South Park, except I'm neither a Jew nor 8. And my last name is Blackmoor."**

"**Umm, hi," I said. "Well, my name is Levi Morrianni. Levi like the jean line Levi. And no, I'm not wearing Levis. I don't own any, before you ask."**

"**Levi," Kyle grinned. "What an original name."**

"**Yes," I replied. "Very."**

**Kyle looked at me, like he was trying to figure something out. "Are you part Angel or something?"**

**I stared at him, surprised. "Yeah." I showed him a tattoo of a small black wing on my right hand. The tattoo marks me as an Angel, and because it's only half a wing, it means that I'm half-Angel. "How did you know?"**

"**Well," he began. "You're really pretty and skinny, but you aren't supermodel pretty like full Angels are, so I figured you were half-Angel."**

"**Ouch," I said, turning away. "Well, when I first saw you, I thought you were pretty hot, for a mortal, but now, I don't think you're all that good looking. And you seem like a douchey, arrogant jerk."**

**Kyle paused. "Wow. That was incredibly harsh and unnecessary," he said.**

"**No. That was completely necessary."**

"**That statement hurt me. Not on the outside, of course, but inside, I'm sobbing."**

**I grinned. He grinned back.**

**Kyle looked up. "Hey! It's my twin sister! Come on, sis!"**

"**You have a twin?" I said. "How does she put up with you?"**

**Kyle's twin was an emo looking girl with the same eyes and hair colour as him. I loved her hair. She had a giant fringe and shoulder length hair covered in blue streaks. I wished my hair was like that. My hair is chocolate brown and reaches my waist. It has a slight wave in it, but I wish it was straight. My fringe is like Kyle's twins; it covers half my forehead and an eye, but I like it that way. I would put streaks in, but I have a thing for bows in my hair, and somehow, I don't see me working the emo look with a bow in my hair.**

"**This is my sis Carly," Kyle said. Carly walked past me with earphones in her ears. She sat down next to me, and I could just make out the song that was playing.**

"**Is that My Chemical Romance?" I asked.**

**Carly pulled out her earphones and looked at me curiously. "Yeah," she said. She seemed the shy type. "Do you like them?"**

"**I love them!" I exclaimed.**

**Carly stared at me. "You do?" she said incredulously.**

"**Why wouldn't I?" I said. "They rock!"**

"**Their music is so dark and deep,"**

"**I know. Whenever I feel depressed, I listen to My Chemical Romance."**

"**I do too!"**

"**Are you two done talking about random emo bands yet?" Kyle inquired.**

"**Ignore him," Carly said. "It's the attention he wants."**

"**I don't crave attention," Kyle snorted.**

"**Suurree you don't," Carly replied.**

"**He seems the attention-craving type," I said.**

"**Nobody asked for your opinion," Kyle grumbled.**

"**Well, that's too bad, because I'm giving my opinion, whether you like it or not."**

"**Whatever," Kyle scowled.**

"**Douche," I muttered.**

"**Yes," Carly said in agreement. "Yes he is. Oh, I don't know your name."**

"**I probably should have introduced myself," I said. "I'm Levi Morrianni. And you are Carly Blackmoor, twin sister of the douche."**

"**Did you know, that when a girl is mean to a guy, it means the girl likes him?" Kyle remarked innocently.**

"**Really? Well, when a guy is a jerk to a girl, it means that he likes the girl. So you must really like me, because in the past ten or fifteen minutes, you've been a jerk to me the whole time."**

"**Schooled." Carly giggled.**

**Kyle opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the dungeon-like door swinging open with a thunderous boom. The room fell silent in less than a nanosecond. A short, plump woman in four-inch stilettos strode in. Her gray hair was pulled back into a bun and she wore a dull gray suit. She surveyed the room with harsh electric-blue eyes before stopping in front of the Richmond's' banner.**

"**Welcome to the Richmond Academy for the Magically Talented," her voice wasn't booming or loud, but it was a voice that commanded respect. "My name is Mrs McCallum, and I am the Deputy Headmistress of the Academy. You are all here today because there is a potential in you to become great leaders." She launched into a clichéd speech about how each of us is a potential leader and such, and that Richmond is proud to have us. **

"**Today your magical abilities will be tested and you will be graded into your classes based on your results. You will be called individually, in alphabetical order, and you will enter the room opposite this one." She gestured outside. "Please do not leave after your interview, as we have important notices and documents we need to give you. You can leave your belongings by this door during the interview." She picked up a clipboard and scanned it intently. "Aardmore, Kevin. You will have your interview first."**

"**And so it begins," Kyle said mysteriously.**

"**I wonder what stuff they're going to give us later..." I said.**

"**Probably where we board," Carly replied.**

"**That's right. I forgot this was a boarding school." I said.**

"**In the interview, they are going to test our magic, right?" Kyle asked.**

"**I think," Carly replied.**

"**Speaking of magic, what's yours?" I asked.**

**Kyle grinned. "This is really ironic, because I'm the happy, cheerful one, and I've got shadow magic, while Carly is the dark and shy one, and she's got light magic."**

"**Ironic much?" I muttered.**

"**Very ironic," Carly agreed. "What about you?"**

"**I have water magic," I explained. "So I can control anything with water. Ice, water, any liquid with water content-" **

"**People." Kyle interrupted.**

"**Yes. People." I agreed.**

"**What about the Angel part?" Carly inquired,**

"**How did you know? Twin telepathy? I'm joking," I added. "It was my mark, right? You saw it?" She nodded.**

"**Well," I said. "It gives me wings."**

"**Like Red Bull," Kyle interjected.**

"**Yes, Red Bull," I agreed. "But they disappear when I don't need them."**

"**That's handy," Carly remarked.**

"**Apparently, Angel blood has a lot of magical properties, so every time I hurt myself in public and bleed a little, random strangers come up to me and say, 'Can we borrow your blood?'"**

"**Because that is definitely not strange and awkward," Kyle said.**

**I shrugged, "You get used to it," **

**During our conversation, another five or six people had gone through for their interviews. **

"**This is going by quite quickly," I remarked and Mrs McCallum read another name off her clipboard. **

"**Blackmoor, Carly."**

**Carly jumped. "Oh jeez, already?"**

"**Good luck!" Kyle and I chorused as she left.**

"**How do you think she'll do?" I asked.**

"**She'll do fine," Kyle replied. "She may not look it, but she's a very confident person and she keeps her head under pressure."**

"**Unlike you."**

"**Unlike me." Kyle looked at Mrs McCallum. "Our Deputy Headmistress lady is weird," **

"**She seems fierce. Like a dragon." I remarked.**

"**Really? I was thinking along the lines of, ancient-old-talks funny- you get my drift."**

"**Yeah, let's hate on our Deputy Headmistress."**

"**Was that sarcasm?"**

"**No." Obviously sarcastic.**

"**Was that sarcasm?"**

"**Yes!" Now exasperated.**

"**Was that sarcasm?"**

"**You irk me."**

"**Why thank you."**

"**Urgh."**

"**Blackmoor, Kyle."**

"**Hey!" Kyle jumped up. "It's my turn!"**

**I gave him a weird look. "Dude, you are way too excited about this."**

"**What can I say?" He shrugged, walking away. "I'm a happy person."**

"**Douche," I muttered,**

**Carly walked back, looking her usual emo self.**

"**How was it?" I asked, as she sat down.**

"**It was alright, I guess," she shrugged.**

"**What happened?" I pressed. I needed to be prepared.**

"**Um, there was this really comfy armchair there, you sat on it, people asked you questions about your magic, they thank you, you leave."**

"**Is that it?"**

"**Yep, pretty much."**

**Another name was read out, and I groaned. "And I was just getting used to the non-doucheness."**

**Carly giggled. "I treasure every non-douchey moment I have. You should too."**

**Kyle sauntered towards us. "What up, people? Did you miss me?"**

"**Was I supposed to miss you?" I inquired.**

"**You suck," he scowled.**

"**And you are an ingrate," I replied.**

"**So...what was your interview like?" Carly asked.**

**Kyle shrugged. "Nothing much. Saved small children from a burning building. Got nominated for a Humanitarian Award. The usual."**

"**What are you trying to be, Miss Universe?" I retorted.**

**Kyle thrust out his chest. "Do I have the body for it?" he paused. "Let me check..."**

"**NO!" Carly and I shrieked. But he checked anyway.**

"**Wanna see?" he inquired innocently.**

"**You are a sick, sick person." Carly shuddered.**

**It seemed to take forever for my name to be called. I waited patiently as our Deputy Headmistress went through the Ds, Es, Fs, and beyond, while I somehow resisted the urge to throttle Kyle. Finally just as my self-control was starting to waiver, my name was called.**

"**Good luck!" Carly and Kyle grinned.**

"**Thanks," I smiled. Then I made my way to the dungeon-door. **

**Just as I walked into the corridor, the redhead girl with the really pretty straight hair walked past. And then, the door opened wide, and I nervously stepped into the darkness that awaited me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I probably should have written this before, but here we go:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything I shouldn't own. That sums it up, right?**

**Also, I'm sorry if it takes me ages to release chapters. I have school work and stuff so it may take a while sometimes. But I will try and release chapters at least once every two weeks. Keep reading and reviewing!**

Chapter 2:

The room wasn't as dark as I'd thought it would be. It looked dark from the outside because the curtains had been pulled, but there was enough of light for me to see clearly. This room was about half the size of the room I'd just come from and had the same dreamy carpet. Instead of portraits, canvases of lush green forests and turquoise oceans hung from the walls, and embers gleamed from a brick fireplace on the opposite side of the room. There was an enormous plump armchair behind a small wooden table laden with folders facing three smaller armchairs.

I cautiously made my way to the large armchair and slowly sat down. Carly said it was a comfy armchair. "Comfy" was an understatement. It was heaven. I felt myself relax into its warm embrace. The tension in my shoulder vanished and did a crick in my neck. I love this armchair. I want to steal it, take it to my apartment, sit in it and never get up again.

Just as I was plotting out my plan to steal the armchair, I heard three sets of footprints behind me. I was going to get up and see who came, but decided against it. I had limited time on this armchair and I would savour every moment of it. Luckily no one made me stand to shake their hands. It's like they knew the allure of the armchair and let me sit. And I was fine with that. 

The people who entered were all important looking and wore designer suits and jewellery. There were two middle-aged men and a younger woman. One of the men had short blonde hair; the other had long silver hair. The woman had curly black hair that reached her hips and large grey eyes that reminded me of thunderstorms.

The silver-haired man looked inside a manilla folder on the table, "Levi Morrianni?" he asked. I nodded. He smiled. "Hello. My name is Mr Raven and I'm the dean for your year group. This is Mr Fairchild," he gestured to the other man. "He is Deputy Headmaster, and this is Marissa Morgen, a very adept water mage who could become your practical magic teacher." All three of them smiled, and it was slightly unnerving because Mr Raven and Mr Fairchild's smiled seemed plastic and forced.

"So, Levi," Marissa smiled, "Tell me about your magic. Like, what can you do with it?" She seemed genuinely interested.

"Well," I began, "I can control all types of water in all forms," Mr Raven started scribbling down notes.

"Would you say your magic is offensive or defensive?" Marissa inquired.

I paused. "A bit of both, actually. People say that water mages can heal really well, but I suck at healing."

"I can teach you how to heal," Marissa said. "Do you draw water from your environment when you need to use it or do you carry some around with you?"

"I get it from my surroundings, I guess." I replied. These questions are weird.

"A minute," Mr Fairchild said. "It says here that you are half-Angel. May I see your mark?"

"Um, okay," I said, holding out my right hand. Mr Fairchild examined it for a couple of seconds before nodding.

"Do you have wings?" he asked. I nodded. "Could you show us?"

"Okay," I said. I leaned forward and gently shook out my wings. My wings are pretty big – well, they have to be. They reach from the tip of my head to my knees, and each one is wider than me. Half my wings are covered in small, pure white feathers; the other feathers are long and are white, blue or green. Mr Raven, Mr Fairchild and Marissa stared at my wings in awe and amazement and I felt a bit self-conscious, yet proud. I mean, I do have wings. And not the Red Bull type.

"Wow." Marissa gasped as I folded my wings.

"They turn invisible when I don't need them," I said, before they could ask. All three of them stood up. "Thank you, Levi," Mr Raven said as they all shook my hand. "Please return to the waiting room and we look forward to seeing you at Richmonds." That was my cue to leave.

When I got back to the waiting room, I started to make my way back to where I was sitting before, except Kyle was gesturing like a lunatic and Carly was hiding her face, probably from the embarrassment of being related to the blockhead. Kyle kept pointing at himself and Carly, then at the drinks table. I was going to pretend that I didn't know him, but I wanted some hot chocolate, so I might as well get them some.

"Took you long enough," Kyle said with mock irritation as I handed them their cups.

"How was it?" Carly asked, just as I was about to say something snappy back.

"It was alright. That armchair is heaven. And they do ask you a lot of questions," I replied. "Then they were awestruck by the magnificence that is my wings. I mean, who wouldn't be?"

"So, why don't you show us the magnificence that is your wings?" Kyle asked.

"No." I said. "Everyone will stare at me and I'll get self-conscious."

"Of course they'll stare at you and make you feel self-conscious," Kyle snorted. "It's obvious."

"Are you trying to convince me to not show you my wings, or what?" I said, feeling confused. "Make up your mind, dude."

"Show them!" Kyle pressed. "Come on!"

"No." I replied.

"Come on! I wanna see!"

"Peer pressure is not okay,"

"I'm not peer pressuring you."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Are we really doing this?"

"Embrace your immaturity, Levi. You seem to have let yours go."

"And I'm glad I did." I paused. "When did they start playing music in here?" I could hear a familiar, faint voice singing in the background. "Oh my gosh! It's Glee!"

Kyle stared at me. "You like Glee?" he asked.

"Of course I like Glee!"

"Glee is lame and for losers."

"Your face is lame and for losers."

"That makes no sense."

"Its not supposed to make sense."

Kyle gave me a blank look.

"Hey, you were the one who told me I had to embrace my immaturity, so I'm embracing my immaturity," I shrugged.

"Whatever."

"I will prove to you that Glee is awesome."

"I thought we finished this conversation."

"Whatever! Glee is awesome!"

"You know what else is awesome?"

"Family Guy? Robot Chicken?"

"You do watch normal shows!"

"What is 'normal' about Family Guy and Robot Chicken? Don't get me wrong, they are epic shows, but still…"

Our debate about whether or not Family Guy and Robot Chicken were normal shows lasted the rest of the day. We only stopped because Mrs McCallum asked for silence in her I-command-respect-go-shut-up voice. Also because brown A-4 envelopes were whizzing through the air and landing in front of people, which showed just how lazy the people at Richmonds really were. But then again, magic does make you lazy. Magic is the cheat code in the game that is life.

"Inside these envelopes are important documents regarding your stay here at Richmonds," Mrs McCallum began, but I stopped listening because a brown envelope back flipped and twirled before stopping in front of me. That is probably the coolest envelope I have ever met. Not that I've met a lot of envelopes. The only thing that could top a back-flipping envelope would be if it could talk. But it couldn't.

The envelope did contain important little bits, for example, where I would be boarding (luckily it was with Carly but there were three people to a room so I hoped we got someone cool and spunky like me), where we get our uniform and stationary, and our timetables themselves. Unfortunately, Kyle and I were in the same classes for everything except for practical magic. In a way, it was good because I wouldn't be alone. But it was bad because it was Kyle.

My timetable goes like this: everyday, except for Wednesdays I have Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. Transfiguration is optional, because not everybody can snap their fingers and turn a teacup into a gerbil. Like me.

On Wednesdays and Saturdays (which are half-days – thank God) we have practical magic. We train our magic and ourselves with someone who has a similar magic to ours.

I must take back my comment about people at Richmonds being lazy. They put together about three hundred timetables in less than a day. That deserved recognition.

Back to my timetable… Sundays are free days. So are Saturday evenings. We can go out, go back home, do homework (probably not), do whatever we want to. We just have to be back by 7:00pm.

I put my timetable back in the envelope and pulled out a sheet about the school shop. It listed prices for all the uniform and stationary. I checked to see how much I'd have to spend on all my stuff, and I almost fainted.

"200,000 Jewels?!" I shrieked.

"WHAT?!" Carly and Kyle cried. I would probably need to explain the currency system around here to understand the gravity of the situation. 10 Silvers make a Gold. 100 Golds make a Jewel. 100 Jewels make one US$. Not that we deal in US dollars. So yeah. 200,000 Jewels gone. I could have used that money on shoes, or clothes, or movies, or even food. But no. 200,000 Jewels would empty my bank account. Instead, I would scab off my brother.

Meanwhile, Kyle was desperately scanning the sheet, checking to see whether he really had to pay 200,000 Jewels. He paused.

"Hey! We only have to pay 60,000 Jewels, dude. What were you looking at?" he asked.

"I have to pay my fees as well." I said. Kyle and Carly glared daggers at me. Its funny how twins with completely different personalities can be so alike. "What? I didn't know you guys didn't have to pay fees."

"Levi! I nearly had a heart attack!" Carly cried.

"I'm sorry, Carly," I patted her shoulder.

"I nearly had a heart attack too!" Kyle moaned.

I scowled. "Darn! So close!"

Carly laughed while Kyle glared at me. I shrugged again.

"I think I'm going to go to the school shop after this and get all my stuff," I decided.

"We have until next Thursday to move is so we figured we'd move in, then get our stuff," Carly said. "Less hassle."

"True, but I'll still go now," I said.

"You know what we should do?" Kyle began excitedly. "We should move in on Tuesday!"

I stared at him. "Why would we do that?"

"Because we'd beat the rush." He replied.

"That's not a bad idea," Carly said. "We should move in around ten-ish."

"Good enough," I nodded, and then noticed people leaving. "Well, I should go beat the rush at the shop. See you guys on Tuesday!"

"See ya!" They waved and I left.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

There were signs pointing in the direction of the school shop everywhere so I knew I wouldn't get lost. Cheerful bright yellow signs led me through a maze of corridors and buildings. The signs all converged on a single door after a while and I entered, expecting a giant line and a three hour wait. However, there were about ten people waiting in front of another door but I still expected the long wait because there was so much stuff you had to get.

I was waiting at the end of the line, trying to simultaneously extract my purse while stuffing the brown envelope into my bag. Surprise, surprise, I dropped the envelope. I reached out to get it but the guy in front of me already had it in his hand. He flashed me a smile, showcasing his pearly whites as he held out the envelope.

This guy was incredibly good-looking. While Kyle had a sort of boyish cuteness about him (though he was anything but boyish and cute), this guy had a sort of heavenly hotness about him. He had cream-coloured skin like me, dazzling green eyes and light blonde hair that was messy, yet neat. I thought about this insane hotness paired with his lightning-fast reflexes, and then figured out what he was.

"Vampire," I grinned knowingly, taking back my envelope with a polite nod.

He nodded, impressed. "Very nice, Angel," he remarked. Even his voice was hot. "No, half-Angel," he corrected. "You smell too human to be a full Angel." I remembered Kyle's remarks about my beauty and felt happy that he hadn't commented on my looks.

"My name's Levi Morrianni," I smiled, holding out my hand. "And yes, I am half-Angel."

"I'm Darren Beckett." He smiled, shaking my hand. His hand was icy against mine. "I'm half-vampire." He added.

"How can you be half-vampire?" I asked, confused.

"The same way you can be half-Angel," he replied.

"Vampires are really cool, as long as they don't try and suck my blood." I emphasised the last couple of words, in case he was getting any ideas.

"No, no, I don't drink human blood," he said. "It's too creepy, me being half-human and all. I drink animal blood instead. Apparently, it's tastier."

"Eww, that's disgusting! Stop talking about animal blood! It's creepy."

"Dude, I'm a vampire. What do you expect?"

I smiled. "I need to know something. It is very important. Do you, or do you not sparkle?"

"You've watched it, haven't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. "Ok, one, that movie is the worst vampire movie everywhere. Underworld was so epic, but that movie is a disgrace! It makes us look like glittering fairies instead of the feared bloodsuckers we used to be! And two, NO. NO I DO NOT SPARKLE! If I was a full vampire, I would melt in sunlight but because I'm human, the sun doesn't affect me."

"So you aren't nocturnal, then?"

Darren frowned. "It depends on my mood, I guess."

"Are the old vampire myths true? Please say they are. They were cool!"

"Well, I can turn into a bat."

"Sweet."

"And I can't enter religious places or say holy words."

"Because you're eternally damned."

"Yep."

"And when you die, you will burn in hell."

"Yep."

"Wow, being a vampire must be really fun!"

"You have no idea." He paused. "You know, this is really ironic. Me, one the eternally damned, is talking to you, the messenger of the-" he choked.

"That is a preconceived notion about Angels." I said. "I am nobody's messenger, or harbinger of the Lord, or whatever. I'm agnostic, too. I don't really believe in that kind of stuff."

"That makes two of us," Darren said.

"So, are you boarding here?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, showing me his room number.

"Ohh…" I said, feeling very sorry for him. "There's this guy I met today, he's idiotic, moronic, douche-baggy, etc and he's in your room."

Darren looked at me. "Is he a cool person? Like, not too bad, sort of average?"

"Did you hear what I just said? He's idiotic, moronic, douche-baggy, etc."

A thought came to my mind. "Hold up. You said before that you drink animal blood. So do you go around killing animals late at night or something?"

"No, I'm not an animal killer." He replied. "I go to the butcher. They always have animal blood around. And I don't need it everyday. I eat normal food, too. So it's good being half-human. Except for the fact that it takes away my immortality,"

"Haha! You're not immortal!" I grinned. He frowned. "Joking. But on the plus side, you'll be one good-looking grandpa!"

He looked half pleased and half disturbed at that.

"So, where are you boarding?" he asked. I showed him my room number. "I know who you'll be sharing your room with," he said. "I met this girl today, Erika, and she's really sweet. You'll like her."

"Sweet! I'm not stuck with some random douche!" I grinned. Darren shook his head, grinning.

The line had gotten longer behind us. People were waiting behind the door I had walked through. I winced, feeling sorry for them. In the meantime, the line in front of us shortened (obviously) and pretty soon it was Darren's turn, then my turn to go in. The people working in the school shop wasted no time on pleasantries. Within a matter of minutes, they had all my stationary in a bag, had my uniform sussed, and were waiting for me to pay. As soon as I had, they handed me my receipt and my bags, gently ushered me out the door, and yelled, "NEXT!" Those poor, flustered, overworked people.

I moved away from the general vicinity of the school shop before stopping in a corridor and checking my uniform. There was a black skirt that ended at my knees, a white button-up shirt, a red V-necked jumper, a red and black blazer, a red and black tie, a pair of woollen black tights and a pair of sturdy-looking leather shoes. All in all, a pretty decent-looking uniform. I walked down a side corridor and jumped out of the way of a wave of people, probably heading down to the school shop. A nearby clock said it was 6:30, so I decided that I better get home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello people! Thanks for keeping up with the story….even though it's taking so long….. sorry but I just tend to write really chapters and I have no clue how long the story will be. Don't let that put you off reading it, though. Keep reading and reviewing!!!!! Btw in case you're wondering why Chapter 1 is in bold and why the rest aren't….. I thought I figured out how to edit chapters, but I haven't. So yeah. XD Me and my douchey-ness. Sigh. And while I'm at it… check out my friend, Terminally-Humanoid's story. It's really good. Read it. **

Chapter 4:

It took me almost half and hour to get home. I caught a train then braved the blizzard outside by walking home. My apartment building was quite small compared to others in the area. There are four stories and about ten to fifteen apartments on each level. My apartment was on the third floor. It had a really nice view of the city. Because the building was so small, it had no elevator, so I dragged myself up six flights of stairs leaving a thin trail of snow behind me. I dusted snow out of my hair and groped for my keys in my pocket with cold hands. I fumbled with the lock on the door while the wind outside started to howl.

I pulled open the door and walked inside. It was toasty and warm, and it felt nice. I pulled off my coat and gloves and dumped them on the sofa with my bags just as my older brother Seth walked out of the kitchen.

"Hey, kiddo," he grinned. Seth was seven years older than me. He had lighter brown hair than me and green eyes. He takes after Mum's side of the family. But he doesn't have any Angel blood because he's my half-brother.

"The weather outside is hellish," I groaned. "I could barely see a thing. It's a complete whiteout."

"I can imagine," Seth remarked. "I ordered pizza."

"Yay!"

"And I got some chocolate."

"I love you!" In a sisterly way.

"I know you do," he grinned. Seth is awesome like that. He'll buy you food, give you money…

Speaking of money, "Umm, I bought all my school stuff and now I'm broke,"

"Really? Well, guess who just got paid?"

"Yay! I'm not broke anymore!" Seth is a stone mason. He does really intricate stone work, and he gets paid a _lot _for it. He gives me part of his salary so I always have money for important things. Like chocolate. Or cake. Or chocolate cake. But I digress.

"Is that old hag Mrs McCallum there?" Seth asked, a wicked glint in his eye. He used to go to Richmonds too, and he had the reputation of "Master Troublemaker". Not that I was going to follow in my brother's footsteps. Of course not.

"Why did you call her an old hag?" I asked. "She seems decent enough."

"She is the devil incarnate," he replied bluntly. "Mr Fairchild is what happens when you cross a sloth with a hyena."

"Suddenly, I'm terrified," I shuddered. "They can't be that bad."

"Trust me," Seth said knowingly. "They are."

The pizza delivery guy came. He gave us our pizzas looking really depressed. I would be too, if I was working in this weather. Seth gave him a chocolate bar and he left, looking considerably happier.

I attacked my pizza with a ferocious zeal. It had chicken, capsicum, tomatoes and onion with Cajun spice. Delish. This pizza was supposed to have mushrooms, but I'm allergic. Probably the lamest allergy ever. At least I'm not allergic to strawberries or mango. If I was, I'd have probably killed myself a long, long time ago.

"Made any friend?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, I met a girl I would be boarding with. She's awesome. She has a twin brother – he isn't. And I met a vampire. Pretty decent guy."

"Eventful day, then?"

"Very. Oh, and I'm going to be moving there on Tuesday. Is that ok?"

"Meh."

"Sweet then."

I spent the next few days packing. Somehow I managed to fit everything I needed into six suitcases and a bag (and I didn't use a packing spell, either).

Come Tuesday, Seth and I dragged my stuff to Richmonds. Thankfully, the blizzard had died down and had been replaced by pleasant sunshine. When we got to reception, they got me a trolley-thing to put my bags on and they called someone to show me to my room. Guess who I got?

"And then, I watched Twilight. It is such a good movie!" Julia gushed. I groaned. I hadn't even spent thirty seconds talking to her, and I already wanted to kill myself. "Was that your brother who dropped you off?" she asked. I nodded. "Is he single? He is so hot!"

I stared at her, horrified. "Come again?!"

"I love his eyes," she giggled.

"I'm sorry, how old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

"Yeah, he's twenty-one. Stay away from him."

"He's so gorgeous for twenty-one." 

"Please shut up." It was more of a horrified wail than a command.

Julia stopped in front of a door toward the end of a corridor. "This is your room!" she grinned. "It will always be unlocked, but don't worry about your stuff getting stolen because there are anti-theft charms all over the place."

"Thanks," I smiled, turning the doorknob.

"No problem. Oh, and can you tell your brother-"

"NO." 

The room was relatively large and cosy-looking. There were three beds, three tables, a clock, a computer and a stereo. There was also an ensuite and a storage closet. The room had a recent view of the campus, and it reminded me of my apartment. But I wasn't feeling homesick – yet. There was a drawer under the bed I chose, so I stuffed it with clothes. I shoved the remaining suitcases into the closet just as I heard the doorknob turn. The girl with the amazingly straight hair walked in, looking nervous.

"Hello," She smiled shyly.

"Hi," I replied shyly.

"My name is Erika Miller," she said, still looking shy.

"I'm Levi Morrianni," I smiled. "And I guess we're roommates."

"Yep," she nodded. The tension built. "So…" she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Wow. This is awkward." I remarked.

Erika giggled nervously. "Yeah, it is."

"Do you need help unpacking or something?" I asked.

"No, no, its okay, I'll be fine."

"It's alright. I just finished unpacking."

"Oh, okay then. If you want."

Erika was quite pretty. She had pale skin and jade green eyes that suited her ruby-red hair. She seemed like someone who liked wearing skirts and dresses. She was pretty tall, too. She had just finished unpacking when Carly walked in. There were introductions all around, and then the awkward silence returned. We stood in a circle staring at the floor for a while.

"Awkward turtle!" I giggled, putting my right hand over my left and waving my thumbs. I couldn't resist.

"That doesn't work anymore," Carly pointed out.

"Have you guys heard of the awkward pineapple?" Erika inquired, and that was how our three-hour conversation about awkward pineapples began.

After Carly finished unpacking, we decided that we would go find some food. We wandered down a corridor, went up a flight of stairs, turned left and found ourselves in the dining room. The dining room was huge; there were tables and chairs as far as the eye could see. We picked a table and sat down. Almost immediately a girl in her twenties came to our table. She waved her hand, and a platter of burger patties, bread, chopped veges and sauces appeared. Then she twirled and literally waltzed away.

"Ok, that was overkill," I remarked.

"The service is incredible, though." Erika commented.

"I feel like I'm in a five-star hotel." Carly smiled.

We assembled burgers and started chatting while we ate. I found out that Erika was a fire mage. I didn't actually think she was. She seemed too nice to burn stuff.

Just as we started on seconds, the door opened and Kyle walked in, looking nervous. He was pushing Darren in front of him, and behind him was their other roommate. This guy was actually quite short, which was a refreshing change from all the tall people. He actually looked more like Carly's twin than Kyle did, because he worked the emo look and had a mane of jet black hair. He had his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground. My Angel half was telling me that he wasn't quite human. I looked at Darren, who looked a bit irked, Kyle, who looked really nervous, then at the emo guy, who looked like he was distancing himself from Darren, and then I clicked.

The three of us stood as they approached. "For those of you who don't know me," Kyle began. "My name is Kyle, the-"

"Loser!" I coughed.

"_Awesome,_" Kyle glared at me. I innocently inspected my fingernails.

"Moving on," I said. "I'm Levi, this is Carly, and this is Erika. Erika, this is Kyle, Darren, and…"

"Mikhael," Kyle and Darren said at the same time.

"Mikhael," I finished.

Mikhael looked up. "Hi," he said. Can we say _awkward?_

"By the way, people," Darren began. "I'm half vampire."

"I'm a werewolf," Mikhael said.

"That explains a lot," Erika murmured.

"How did you not see that?" I muttered. "It was obvious!"

"Carly and I are twins," Kyle said.

"I'm half Angel," I added.

"And I'm a ranga!" Erika finished. We stared at her. "What? I was contributing to the conversation."

Another girl danced by and summoned more food. We sat down and started talking while we ate.

After we finished eating, we decided we'd go explore the rest of the campus. We started in the North block, which had the reception, dining rooms, halls and the library. We were going to move on, but we were sidetracked by the library- it was _enormous_. Half of it was full of fiction books, the other half had spell books. The fiction half was modern-looking with computers and sofas, while the spell book half was rustic and ancient looking with rows of giant oak bookshelves and torches hanging on the walls. We spent the whole evening exploring the spell book side, grabbing random books and trying out spells. I found a hex that causes bat-things to attack someone's face (guess who I tried it on) which could come in handy in many situations. There was even a restricted section.

At about seven-ish we went back to the dining room and ate dinner, which was scrumptious spaghetti and meatballs. Unfortunately for me, the meatball sauce had mushrooms in it.

"You're allergic to mushrooms?" Darren snorted incredulously while dancing serving girl gave me spaghetti and meatballs minus the mushroom.

"Yes, I'm allergic to mushrooms," I said irritably. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"What happens if you eat a mushroom? Does your face swell up?" Kyle inquired.

"No, sunshine, I go bald." I sarcastically retorted. "Well, it's not actually my face that swells up, it's my neck. I ate a mushroom once when I was little so my neck swelled up and I couldn't breathe. It was a near-death experience."

"Fun." Erika remarked.

"Very." I replied, munching on a meatball.

We went back to the dorms after we finished dinner. The dorms are in the North-West block, and are connected to the North block by a covered bridge. The NW block has about five common rooms, each decked out with beanbags, sofas, cupboards with board games and a giant wide-screen TV with a surround-sound system that apparently played movies. We grabbed a deck of cards and played poker with jellybeans. Darren won the first round, I won the next two, Erika won a round, Carly won another round, and Mikhael won the rest. That boy had one of the best poker-faces I had ever seen.

We found out that there was a nine pm curfew, so we decided to meet up in the dining room the next day before heading back to our dorms. Carly, Erika and I did the typical sleepover thing and talked about boys. Carly likes Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance while Erika adores Bill from Tokio Hotel. I'd love to meet his hairdresser. And I am torn between Adam Lambert and Taylor Lautner. Its just too hard to choose.

We talked for hours and ODed on chocolate before finally deciding to go to sleep. My bed was surprisingly comfy and warm, and before long I found myself drifting off to sleep…

**Ok, thanks for all the reviews so far guys! I just saw them all XD Anyway I will update asap. All that's left for me to do is finish chapter 5 (*nervous laugh*) Sorry people. I have the meanest writers block at the moment. I'll get over it soon, though. Don't worry. =D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow. Chapter five already. Thanks for the support!!! Honourable mentions to everyone who helps me out. And I have no clue why I go on about armchairs… **

Chapter 5:

I was sitting in a really comfy armchair with my feet up on a nearby stool. I was getting a manicure, a pedicure and a massage done by really cute guys while another served me milkshakes and cupcakes. It was such a nice dream! And then, of course, I woke up. Technically, a loud thud woke me up, but I was still awake, so there wasn't a lot of difference between those two statements.

I got up and pulled open the curtains. It was dull and depressingly cloudy outside. A weak chirp caught my attention. A red-chested robin was fluttering around, looking dazed. It must have crashed into the window.

"I know spring is coming, so why did you wake me up, you stupid little bird?" I said irritably. I'm not a morning person.

My phone clock said it was 6:17am. With an inward groan I collapsed on my bed and tried to sleep but failed. After a while I gave up, got dressed and decided to kill some time in the dining room with my music. At around seven o'clock Mikhael walked in, looking exhausted.

"Hello." I smiled.

"Hello." He replied as he sat down.

"You look exhausted." I remarked.

"Yeah, I was going to sleep in longer, but this red-chested robin collided with my window and woke me up. I watched it fly away, but then it came back and crashed into another window. Crazy bird." He said.

"It must be spreading the word that spring is coming," Mikhael gave me a blank look. "Apparently, when you see a red-chested robin in winter, it means spring is coming."

"I know spring is coming, I don't need a bird to tell me," Mikhael snorted. "So, what kind of magic do you have?"

"Water magic. I can't heal, though. What about you?"

"Archive magic," he said sheepishly.

I stared at him. "That sounds really cool."

"It isn't," he said. "Its just information. That's it. I have to use a wand for practical stuff. It's so lame."

"No, it isn't." I replied. "Having access to endless amounts of information is a good thing! Plus using a wand means you can use any type of magic you want."

"I'd rather specialize in just one thing," he shrugged. "It's less hassle."

The door opened and Darren walked in. "Hello, Levi," he grinned. "You look stunningly beautiful today." I rolled my eyes. "Hello wolfy," he continued.

"Hello, bloodsucker,"

"You should probably get yourself a flea collar, wolf, flea season's coming."

I hid a grin behind my hand. Mikhael looked unfazed. "Have you ever seen those conjoined twins where one of them isn't fully developed, and it sucks the life out of its twin? I think I would compare you to one of them, Darren." Mikhael said coolly.

"Burn!" I grinned, giving Mikhael a high-five.

"I think you need a muzzle, Mikhael." Darren remarked.

"You know what else I need? A wooden stake." Mikhael replied. I giggled.

"Try not to shed all over the carpet," Darren said. "It looks new." A beam of sunlight hit Darren's arm.

"Argh!" Mikhael cried, holding his hands above his eyes. "The glitter! It blinds me!" I started cracking up. Darren gave me a look that said he'd murder me in my sleep. I cracked up even more.

"What's so funny?" Kyle asked, walking towards our table.

"Nothing," I giggled. I looked at Darren and started laughing again.

"What is wrong with you?" Mikhael asked, looking disturbed.

"Everything," I sighed.

Carly and Erika walked in a bit later. They, too, had been woken up by the red-chested robin. "Somebody needs to shoot that bird," I muttered darkly. Carly, Erika and Mikhael nodded in agreement.

Breakfast today was French toast with golden syrup. It was probably the most delicious French toast I had ever tasted. I looked around the table and saw Darren and Mikhael slowly eating their breakfast while shooting each other deathly glares.

"Dude," Kyle said, looking confused and irritated. "That's _my_ food!"

"Shut up," Darren hissed, still eating Kyle's food and glaring. Erika got up and slapped them both on the back of the head.

"Ow, woman! What was that for?" Darren and Mikhael yelled in unison.

"The two of you are acting like little PMS-y girls!" Erika yelled back. "Now eat your food and stop throwing hissy fits!"

"Fine." Mikhael shrugged.

"Fine." Darren shrugged.

Kyle looked shocked. "How come they listened to her and not me?" Everybody ignored him.

"I'm bored," Carly moaned. "Now what?"

"Let's go explore the rest of the school and avoid the library," Erika suggested. "Perfect way to kill time."

"Sweet." I nodded.

"Sure, why not?" Darren said. Mikhael shrugged.

"Can you guys wait for me?" Kyle asked. "I haven't finished eating yet." We got up and started to leave. "Oh, sure, guys, it's not like I'm starving or anything. Just go on ahead. It doesn't matter."

The campus was divided into eight blocks. Each was named after a direction – there was a North block, a North-west block, and etc. The buildings were set out in the shape of an octagon and there was a lake in the middle. Cobblestoned paths left each block and surrounded the lake, so if you looked at the campus from above, it looked like an octagonal snowflake. In fact, a lot of important buildings around here were designed like our school. There was the Knights school down the road, full of hotheaded morons ("Hey, look, I have a sword, I don't need to learn, hyuck hyuck."), the university, full of pompous idiots, even what was known as "The Hub", the bustling marketplace and heart of the city, were all designed in the shape of snowflakes. That's why our city is nicknamed "Snowflake City". Whoever came up with the idea is a genius and needs an award.

We started at the NE block, which had all the History of Magic classes. We walked up some stairs and found ourselves in an Astronomy class.

"I didn't know you could do astronomy," I said.

"I am so doing astronomy," Erika said, gazing at posters of stars and whatnot.

The next block had Charms and Potions classes. The potions classrooms shared the first few floors with charms classrooms, while the top floor had classrooms with fireplaces, armchairs and million-jewel views of the city.

"Common rooms?" Darren, Erika, Carly, Kyle and I chorused.

"Divination rooms," Mikhael corrected.

"Where does it say that?" Erika asked.

"The big poster that says 'Divination' in big bold letters on the wall," he replied, pointing at a wall.

"Of course it's a divination room!" Darren snorted. "I knew that…ahaha…who didn't see that?" Nervous laugh. "I'll stop talking now."

"What was that?" Erika said. "You sound like such a 'tard."

"I don't know," Darren sighed.

"Are you running on empty?" Mikhael asked casually. To get that statement, you would need to compare a vampire to a car. Vampires run on blood just like cars run on petrol. When cars run out of petrol, they don't function as well. The same principal applies to vampires.

"No malice intended," Mikhael added as Darren shot him an evil glare.

Next, we went to the SE block, which had transfiguration and languages.

"I'm going to do Latin," I decided.

"What's the point? It's a dead language," Kyle pointed out.

"So? It'd still be useful to learn. A lot of languages are derived on Latin," I retorted.

"If you learn Latin, you'd be able to read the Bible in Latin," Kyle remarked. "You could go around preaching like a missionary." He laughed. I punched him.

"Oww," he moaned. ""Hey, what's that? It's so pretty…" We turned to see what he was looking at.

"Wow." Erika remarked. The thing we were all gaping at was a painting the size of a small mirror. It depicted an Angel rising out of a lake, holding a gilded cup and a sword. I was amazed at how intricate and delicate-looking it was. In fact, I think it was painted on the mirror.

Kyle reached out to touch it. "Kyle," Carly began. "Kyle, no. Kyle, don't touch-" he touched the painting. Immediately, cracks appeared and spiderwebbed the whole painting. "-the painting." Carly finished with a sigh.

Kyle looked around guiltily. "You saw _nothing_," he said, pointing at us. Carly reached out and touched the broken painting. The cracks slowly faded away. I think her magic fixed it.

She turned and glared at Kyle. "What did I tell you about touching things that don't belong to you?" she sighed, with the air of an exasperated mother.

Kyle looked like a guilty little kid. "I'm sorry. But it was so pretty!"

We managed to leave the block without Kyle breaking anything else. In fact, we kicked Kyle out of the rooms we were going into, and told him to wait for us. It's not like he could get into any trouble in the corridor, right?

"Oh my gosh, Kyle, what are you doing?!" I said incredulously, walking out of a room. Kyle was tied up and hanging from the ceiling.

"It doesn't matter, just get me down!" he cried.

"Only you, Kyle," Mikhael sighed, as we went to help him. We managed to lower him down to the ground, and started to untie him.

"Is this faerie dust?" Carly frowned, staring at gold dust on the rope.

"No, it's not," Kyle said guiltily, looking from side to side nervously. Carly groaned.

"How do you put up with him?" Erika said.

"With great difficulty," Carly sighed.

Next, we went to the S block, which were just open fields and greenhouses. Then we found ourselves another library, only this one was somehow bigger than the other. And full of even more spell books.

"Let's come back later," I suggested, so we moved on.

The last block had only Defence Against the Dark Arts classrooms, which were filled with creepy posters of dementors and other freaky things that should not be described, like people being tortured. Why someone would have posters of people being tortured hanging on their walls, I don't know, but creepy posters paired with dim lights leads to a very depressing and somewhat scary atmosphere.

"Isn't this a cheerful place to be," Darren remarked casually.

"No duh," I rolled my eyes.

"Library again?" Carly asked. We nodded and went back.

We'd only been in the library for an hour or so when it happened. The ground started shaking, knocking us all to the ground. The torches hanging on the walls started to flicker, and the heavy oak bookshelves began to sway violently from side to side, however no books fell out. I felt really scared, because the bookshelves looked like they were about to topple over, and I, personally, did not want to be crushed by a bookshelf. Luckily, the shaking stopped and nothing fell over.

Over the past month and a half, there have been at least twenty-three earthquakes, which is twenty-three too many, according to me. The earthquakes were strong enough to knock you over, but not strong enough to cause widespread damage, and they come in clusters of five or six every couple of days. Earth mages can usually sense what's going on underground, but they say that there won't be a major earthquake anytime soon, nor will the city explode due to a newborn volcano. So everyone is stumped over the cause of these earthquakes.

The rest of the day seemed to pass remarkably quickly. I looked at the clock. It said 4:00 pm. I looked up in (what seemed to be) a minute's time. The clock said 9:00pm, and I remember thinking, "Dang. I missed dinner." Nevertheless, I still went to bed, because I find sleep just a tad more important than eating – but only when I'm exhausted. I laid my head down on my pillow, and then fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep with no interruptions, especially from annoying little birds.

**Oh and the word "'tard" is © to Terminally-Humanoid. Just saying.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, this chapter actually took a lot of work – about a week and a half of intense procrastination, and a couple of days of intense writing and re-writing. Enjoy! And I finally discovered the line things! Hehe.**

Chapter 6:

"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead!"

"Nyaah."

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!"

"Nyaah."

"Don't make me pour cold water on you."

"If you poor cold water on me, I will seriously kill you."

"Come on, Levi! Wake up!"

"NYAAH." I peeled open an eyelid and saw Erika staring at me with a bemused expression. "If I open my eyes, will you go away?"

"No, I want you awake."

"Well, too bad, _mom_,"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake!" she yanked me out of bed.

"I'm not a morning person! Leave me alone!"

"But you got up yesterday!"

"Because the stupid bird crashed into the window!"

"Whatever! Just go!" she pushed me into the bathroom and shut the door. After a couple of minutes, I emerged, looking somewhat awake, and with my hair under some sort of control. It's at its waviest, and frizziest for that matter, in the mornings. "Very good," she smiled primly.

"Do you want me to hit you?" I inquired innocently.

She shook her head. "Thanks, but no. It's all right."

"So then, why did you wake me up?"

"Well, we're all waiting for you in the common room. We got kicked out of the dining room, thanks to you."

"No problem. Glad to see I'm of help even when I'm asleep."

She sighed. "And we took the liberty of saving you food. You can thank us later."

There were a lot of people out and about in the corridors. "Why are there so many people here?" I asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, we're being formally welcomed to Richmonds' tonight. We get sorted into houses, and apparently it's really formal. So we'll be wearing uniform."

"And we start classes tomorrow, right?"

"I think so."

The common room was empty except for Darren, Kyle, Carly and Mikhael. "Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," Darren grinned, while Carly sipped a steaming hot cup of coffee.

"I don't think so," I replied, pointing at Mikhael and Kyle, who were both asleep on the table. I sat down next to Carly, who handed me a cup of hot coffee and some toast. "Thanks," I smiled.

"Well," Darren began. "Erika's going to get her school stuff, and I'm bored, so I'm going with her."

"See you guys later!" Erika waved, and they left. Carly and I sipped our coffees in silence and the guys slept without a sound.

"So peaceful," Carly sighed happily.

"Its actually quiet for a change," I smiled.

"What's quiet for a change?" Kyle asked.

I turned and looked at him. "When did you wake up?"

"Why couldn't you stay asleep?" Carly complained.

"I dunno," Mikhael shrugged.

"When did you get up?" Carly said.

"Why are they so quiet?" I whispered to Carly. "It's not normal!" Mikhael threw a cushion at me.

"Hey, guys," Kyle began with a goofy grin. "Do you know what oculolinctus is?" Mikhael and I shook our heads while Carly cringed. "No, you guys wouldn't want to know."

"I kinda do now," I said, curious.

"Trust me," Carly shuddered. "You do not want to know."

"Yeah," Kyle said, still with that goofy grin. "You don't."

"Fine," Mikhael said. "We don't."

"Good," Kyle shrugged. A couple of minutes passed, and then, "Oculolinctus is a fetish where you get turned on by licking someone's eyeballs."

Mikhael choked, Carly cringed even more, and I shuddered. "There are two things wrong with that statement. One; how do you lick someone's eyeballs? And two; how do you lick someone's eyeballs?"

"I'd rather not know," Mikhael groaned.

Darren stood by the door to the school shop, waiting for Erika to finish buying her stuff. He could already smell the new people arriving. His sense of smell wasn't as powerful as that of a full vampire, but it could still overpower him at times.

Erika emerged, holding overstuffed bags. "Oh my gosh, these bags are so heavy!"

Darren started walking, getting the hint but choosing not to act on it.

"I _said_," Erika cleared her throat, running to catch up to him. "Oh my gosh, these-"

"I heard you the first time," Darren interrupted.

"Oh. Well, did you get the hint?"

"Yes, I'm just choosing to ignore it."

"Oh." Erika pouted.

They turned down a corridor and started walking when a yell caught Darren's attention. "Did you hear that?" he said, turning to Erika.

She nodded, "Yeah, I think it came from over there." She pointed to a door, slightly ajar. As they neared it, they could hear voices – both male – arguing. Looking through the door, Darren could see a mirror and the reflections of two men – Mr Fairchild and a boy who looked about fourteen. He had pasty white skin, silver hair, grey eyes, and he looked like he was wearing a black cape. There was something about him that didn't smell quite human.

"I can't just let you in!" Mr Fairchild was whispering loudly. He was sweating abnormally.

"Well then, make something up," The boy replied coldly. "He said that you had to let me in, so we can enact our plan."

"But…" Mr Fairchild began, looking nervous.

"Do you really want to refuse him?" Icicles dripped off the boy's words.

Mr Fairchild was sweating even more now. "Fine," he said. "Welcome to Richmonds. But I swear, Sebastian, if you're lying to me…"

"Mark, Mark, Mark," Sebastian sighed. "Now tell me. Why would I do something like that? Oh, and that reminds me; what about the girl?"

"The girl is here and being watched closely," Mr Fairchild replied. Darren noticed that Erika had gone pale.

"Are you ok?" He whispered.

"Yep," she replied. "Let's go."

"Why?"

"Because. Please?" Erika was now bone-white.

"Ok, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Would you catch me if I did?"

"No."

"Well then, never mind, let's go."

The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. Carly, Erika and I left early to our stuff and uniforms ready, because the guys decided to be douches. Tonight, as Erika explained earlier, there would be a big assembly with the whole school where all the new students would be sorted into houses. Houses were used for sports teams, clubs, groups, and there were a lot of inter-house competitions. Also, the house with the best exams scores would win something and what not. I don't really remember. I wasn't listening. Anyway, at about seven we went down to a pretty big room where all the new students had to meet up. Mrs McCallum was there, and she put us into two groups: students whose last names began with A-M, and then N-Z. All of us, except for Mikhael, were in the first group. Poor, poor Mikhael was all alone.

Mrs McCallum marched us to the hall and ushered us in through the side door. All the other students were already there so the noise was deafening, but it disappeared as we entered. The end of the hall we were gathered in had a raised podium and a long table with teachers seated around it, and there were another four incredibly long tables, each full with students. I had the feeling they were all looking at me, but I think everyone here felt the same way. It was pretty intimidating.

Mr Fairchild was seated at the teachers' table. He stood up, the sound of his chair scraping the ground echoed around the whole hall. He started talking about the history of Richmonds and then about how the four houses were named after the four founders of the school as a tribute to their work. Then he walked in front of the table and pulled out an ancient-looking pointed witch's hat. "Let the sorting ceremony begin!" he yelled. The rest of the students cheered.

"'Sorting Ceremony'?" Erika muttered. "I'm sure he can come up with something better than that."

"That was shameful," I muttered. Carly pinched the ridge of her nose and sighed.

The Sorting Ceremony goes like this: Mr Fairchild call out a name. That person walks up and sits down on a stool. He puts the hat on the person's head. After a couple of minutes, the hat talks. Yes, _talks_. A hat. That talks. Who'd have known? Anyway, a crack appears on the hat just above its brim. That's its mouth. Then it yells what house the person is in. And that's basically it. I though it would some sort of huge test or something, but no. Carly, Erika and Darren were put in Ravenclaw, while Kyle, Mikhael and I were put in Gryffindor.

"We're the three Gryffindorians!" Kyle grinned.

"Carly, Erika and Darren are the Ravenclaw people," I remarked. Yeah, 'Ravenclawians' didn't have the same ring to it as 'Gryffindorians' did.

After all the sorting business was over and done with, a few teachers delivered introductory speeches before we were allowed to eat. Five-star restaurant quality appeared on the tables and we dug in. I had almost started eating when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to my left and saw a silver-haired, grey-eyed boy staring at me. He seemed vaguely familiar. "Levi?" he asked. "Is that you? It's me, Sebastian."

It took me a moment to recognise him. "Sebastian? Oh my gosh! It's so good to see you!" Sebastian was one of my closest childhood friends. But he moved away when I was ten, and we had lost contact. It was pretty good to see him. I introduced him to Kyle and Mikhael, and we started talking.

"So, your roommates are both taller than you?" Sebastian smirked. He knew that my height bothered me. "How does that make you feel?" I made a gun shape with my left hand and pointed it at my left temple.

"Oh, and they both have straight hair," Mikhael added. My wavy hair bothered also bothered me, so I turned my left hand sideways.

"She turned it sideways," Kyle gasped.

"Kill shot! It's a Kill shot!" Mikhael announced. We all laughed.

"Hey, Sebastian," Kyle began. "Are you wearing a black cape or something?" he pointed at Sebastian's back.

"It's not a cape," Sebastian said. "They're my wings."

Kyle and Mikhael looked shocked. "You're an angel too?"

"Yeah, except my wings don't go invisible like hers," Sebastian shrugged.

After we finished eating, all the teachers stood up and formally dismissed us. Each table got up and exited. I waved goodnight to Sebastian, Kyle and Mikhael and stood by the door, waiting for Carly and Erika.

"Hello, Ravenclaw people," I grinned when they approached.

"Hello, strange Gryffindor person," Erika smiled.

"That food was so delicious!" Carly grinned.

"Five-star restaurant worthy," I replied.

"I know," Erika yawned. "I'm exhausted, for some reason."

"Yeah," Carly yawned.

"Same here," I yawned. Yawns were contagious. We walked into our room.

"I'm going straight to bed," Carly announced.

"Ditto," Erika said.

"Who says 'ditto' anymore?" I asked.

"Why, I do," Erika smiled sweetly. We cracked up. "'Night," she got into her bed.

"Goodnight," I replied, getting into bed and shutting my eyes.

"Goodnight," Carly said, turning the lights off.

**Um, sorry if I've mucked up grammar or something. It was a rush job. Apologising in advance.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The dementor glided along the dark, damp corridor, its clock whispering in a wind that wasn't there. It tasted terror in the air and looked around, and saw the countless skeletons lining the cave walls. Worms crawled through empty eye sockets and bits of decaying flesh and skin hanging off bones provided food for many red-eyes rats. Jaws hung wide open, arms were stretched out, and large red patches stained the walls. The dementor loved it. It hadn't had a feast like that in years.

The corridor led into a cavernous opening, about the size of a three-storied house. A magma river flowed at one end, bubbling gently. Giant crystals gleamed in the crimson light, creating an eerie glow over the whole cavern. Stacked in a corner were a dozen or so dull metal cages, a stark contrast to the bright sparkling crystals. A middle-aged man stood facing the river, his hands clasped behind his back. He had white-silver hair and wore a black leather outfit with a sword hanging at his hip.

"You called, my lord?" the dementor rasped, sweeping into a bow.

The man did not acknowledge the dementor's presence. "It is nearly ready," he said in a cold, calculating voice. "Tell your kind to be patient. The day is almost upon us." The dementor hissed. The day was almost upon them. The day they would be free to roam the world, free to kill, free to feast. The dementor couldn't wait.

Erika sat on a bean bag in the common room, hunched over, rocking back and forth. The clock said it was 7:12 am.

Darren walked in, rubbing his cheek. "What's with the upright foetal position?" he inquired, sitting on a beanbag.

"I never thought Carly and Levi would get so scary," she shuddered. "I was just trying to wake them up. They're channelling their inner Satan today. Especially Levi. Which is weird, because she's an angel. Why are you still rubbing your cheek?"

"I tried to wake Kyle up, but he punched me!" Darren winced. "I was like, 'Wake up, Kyle,' and he was like POW! So I tried Mikhael."

"How did that go?" Erika asked.

"He growled like a rabid wolf about to attack. I sprinted out of there."

"Understandable," Erika nodded.

It was 7:47 am when Levi and Carly entered, and a few minutes later, Kyle and Mikhael followed. Erika noticed that Darren kept edging away from Kyle, still rubbing his cheek.

"Oh my gosh, its eight o'clock!" Carly gasped.

"Let's go get ready," Levi said, tugging at Erika's sleeve.

"Sure, we'll come with you," Kyle smirked, and him and the guys started to follow to girls out.

"Let's discuss the joys or menstruation," Erika said sarcastically.

The boys started to back away. "Well, would you look at the time?" Darren remarked nonchalantly, looking at the invisible watch on his wrist.

"We just realised there's somewhere we need to be," Mikhael shrugged while Kyle nodded emphatically.

"Bye!" Levi waved with a huge fake smile.

"Perverts," Carly muttered when they were gone.

"Douche bags," Levi snorted.

It was 8:15 am when Erika, Carly and Levi went to the dining room for some food, in full uniform and with all their stuff. They sat down, and that was when Erika noticed him. He stood by the door, smirking at her, like he knew everything. Which, Erika thought nervously, he probably did. To Erika's horror, he started walking towards her, still smirking, his grey eyes staring right into her soul. Levi turned around, and his expression suddenly changed. "Hi Sebastian!" she waved. He waved back, now standing at their table. Erika could feel the dread slowly rising up.

"So, ladies," Sebastian said smoothly, sitting opposite Erika. "I don't believe we've met." He looked straight at Erika as he said that. She glared at him.

"Oh, sorry," Levi said. "Erika, Carly, this is Sebastian. He's a really good friend of mine." So that's why he's here, Erika thought, giving him a fake smile.

"Hey, Sebastian!" Mikhael and Kyle waved out while Darren looked at him blankly.

"That's Sebastian," Kyle said to Darren.

"That's Darren," Levi said to Sebastian, pointing at Darren. Everyone started to talk, except for Erika, who sat there sipping her coffee. Well, she thought, things are going to get very, very complicated.

Our first class of the day was… wait for it… History of Magic. Now, I don't hate History, in fact, I rather like History, however sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair in a hot, stuffy room listening to our teacher wheezing about what we would cover this year was making me hate it. Our History teacher was probably fifty and was the most boring person I had ever met. Her voice was like a person with asthma coughing. She couldn't even spell properly. What we're going to learn from her, I don't know.

Class number two was Charms. Our teacher reminded me of a smurf. Not that she's blue. But she's always smiling. And she seems really cool, too.

Our teacher for Care for Magical Creatures, was a man-elf on the older side. He told us he was four hundred and thirty six, but he looked thirty-five. And I must say, for a four hundred and thirty six year old, he had no wrinkles, and no grey hair.

Herbology was our next class, and we would be working in greenhouses. However, I think that's going to be a bit of a problem for Darren, Mikhael and me, because the moment we set foot in the greenhouse, those plants must have sensed we weren't completely human and _freaked_. In fact, those plants freaked over any non-human who entered. So from now on, we have to wait outside for our teacher who will cast a spell on us to make us seem human. Oh, the humiliation.

We have a rather eccentric teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts. He's really funny and I have a nagging feeling we won't be getting any work done. Not that I mind, really. It's good to have one fun class. And my Potions teacher was one awesome lady. So far, I'd say that those two classes are my favourite.

.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, I'm sorry it took this long to get Chapter 8 up. I am an avid procrastinator. Yay! It's the long weekend. I am in serious need of a break. **

Chapter 8:

Dreams for me were vivid, frequent things. I had one every night, and I almost always woke up because of them. The dream I had last night toed the line between good dream and nightmare. It was mostly nightmare, though. I was standing in a huge, dimly lit cavern wearing a dress. It was a pretty dress – strapless, ended below my knees, and it was pure white with blue and green beadwork around the hem. Sure, it was a dress I'd wear; I just had no idea why I was wearing it at all. Anyway, I was looking around this huge cavern, and I took a step forward, stepping on a stone. That's when I noticed I was barefoot. Barefoot? WTF? Me, barefoot, and in a dress? That would be a nightmare, by my standards. But that wasn't it. Then I noticed my wings were out, and my hair was done up. Once again, WTF? Urgh. I must have looked like I was going to a ball. But I can't dance, and loathe dancing with every fibre of my being, so again, WTF?

My eyes had just adjusted to the dim light when I noticed the blood. It was everywhere. All over the walls, pooling on the ground, everywhere. It was coming from being a giant crystal. Wait a second… giant crystals? How did I not see that? They were freakin' huge. But back to the nightmarish situation… where was I? Oh, that's right. Truckloads of blood coming from behind a giant crystal. I found myself walking towards it, trying to see what was going on, when I probably should have walked the other way. It was a complete curiosity-killed-the-cat (or in this case, Angel) situation. I began to peer around, expecting a mountain load of corpses when something whacked me in the back of the head. Everything went black, and the next thing I knew, I was lying in my bed staring at the ceiling. Unfortunately, it was one of those dreams that you store away in the dark recesses of your mind because you don't think it's important at the time when you wake up, so now I was lying in bed, wondering why I was awake in the first place.

My phone clock said it was 2:19 am. Great, I thought irritably. Just great. I decided to go the bathroom to wash the cold sweat off my brow before attempting to get some sleep. So I got up and made my way towards it. My hand was on the doorknob when there was a huge crash from inside and a loud, "YEOUCH!" I shoved open the door to find Erika kneeling on the tile floor with blood pouring down her hand. She had a towel pressed against it, to try and stop the bleeding, but it wasn't working. There was blood on the floor, on her arm and shirt, and even on the sink. "Erika!" I gasped. "Are you alright?"

She gave me a withering look in reply. "Yep," she said sarcastically. "Just _dandy_."

"Sorry, stupid question," I said, kneeling down to help her. "What happened?"

"Well," she began, as I grabbed another towel to use on her hand, as the earlier one had turned a bright crimson colour from its natural beige. "I left a razor blade b the sink and forgot about it. I was washing my hands and saw it, so I picked it up and, yeah." She made a cutting motion with her uninjured hand. Something about her statement didn't make sense to me. If she had cut her hand a couple of minutes ago, then why was there so much blood?

"Hey, guys," Carly walked up, rubbing her eyes. "What's with the commoti-ohmygosh! Erika, are you ok?" Erika rolled her eyes.

"Erika's been cutting herself," I remarked.

"I knew it!" Carly exclaimed.

"Do I really look the 'self-harm' type?" Erika demanded, looking shocked and a bit miffed.

"Do you want the truth or the lie?" Carly offered.

"I am shocked and offended that you would think that of me," Erika said, sounding snooty.

"Um, guys," I began, before Carly could retort. "Erika, here, is kinda bleeding to death at the moment, so I think we should, oh, I dunno, fix up her cut and then discuss whether or not Erika's been cutting herself."

Carly opened a cabinet and pulled out a first-aid-kit. "Lets see…" She murmured, going through it. "I think there's some Quick-Fix ointment it here somewhere."

"'Quick-Fix ointment'?" Erika inquired.

"It's this greenish stuff that you slather onto cuts and scrapes and after a while it peels off, and your cut is completely healed," I explained.

"But it only works on small stuff," Carly said, kneeling next to Erika with the ointment jar in her hand. "If you slit your throat or stab yourself in the femoral artery, it's not exactly going to work." She rubbed a generous amount over Erika's injured hand. "That should do it," she said.

"Now to clean up," I sighed. There was a lot of stuff to clean.

"We can never let Darren in here," Carly said.

"Don't know why he'd want to come in here in the first place, but you're right, we can't," Erika agreed.

By the time we finished cleaning, it was past 3am and Erika's cut had fully healed. Carly and I had (jokingly) hidden all razorblades (in case you're wondering, yes, we do shave) and we went back to sleep, but not before Erika had apologized again and again. We told her it was no biggie, and when her apologies got irritating, we told her to shut up and sleep. We were up the next morning by 7:30, and since it was 'practice-your-magic' day today we wore jeans, hoodies, double-layers and whatnot. Breakfast (for me, at least) was toast and coffee. Darren, Kyle and Mikhael were already there. The moment we sat down, Darren gave us an odd look and said, "What's with the blood?"

"What blood?" Carly asked.

"The three of you stink of it," Darren said. "It's almost like you had showers but instead of using water you used blood."

"Ok, one, that's disgusting, and two, which one of you has been cutting herself?" Mikhael sighed. We all looked at Erika.

"Why do you all assume it's me?" Erika cried.

"Oh, gee, I dunno, maybe 'cause it was?" Carly replied innocently.

"It was an _accident_!" Erika stressed the 'accident' part.

"That's what they all say," I said with a wry grin.

"Its all lies! Lies, I tell you! Lies!" Erika cried.

"We'll let the jury decide that," Carly said with an evil grin.

"Who's the jury?" Kyle muttered to Darren, who gave him a, 'seriously, dude?' look in reply, and then he clicked. "Oh! We're the jury! I get it! I knew that, I was just testing you. You passed, by the way."

"Umm, great?" Darren said, looking a bit confused.

Our whole practical thing goes like this. We get separated into year levels and houses. Then our mentors would come and find us. My mentor was a guy around Seth's age. His name was Zach and he seemed really crazy/hyper. He was bouncing around like a ping-pong ball.

"Hi, Levi!" he said with a huge grin. "I'm Zach, and I'm your mentor!"

"Hi, Zach," I smiled at him. Something about him was making me feel happy.

"In case you're wondering, I am fully qualified to be your mentor," he said, still grinning. "I didn't graduate from Loony Academy,"

"Umm, I wasn't thinking that…" I lied.

"Its ok, everybody thinks that." He looked at me. "You seem really familiar. Have I met you before?"

"No, I don't think so," If I had met someone as crazy as you, I'd remember.

"Oh, ok," he replied. "Well, about me…I'm a water mage from around here, and I went and somehow graduated from Richmonds, so I can help you with assignments and stuff, and I know the campus and all its hidden passages and what not like the back of my hand, so if you learn stuff quick, I'll show you, 'kay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "This place has hidden passages?"

"A lot of them," Zach replied. "Me and my friend Seth used them all the time."

"Wait a second. Seth? As in Seth Morrianni?"

"How do you know Seth?"

"He's my half-brother,"

"Oh, no wonder you looked familiar." He paused. "Now back to you… I'm gonna test your abilities to see how much you need to learn." Firstly, he got me to draw water and make fancy shapes with it. By fancy, I mean Jimmy Choo fancy. "Show me a Prada bag! I said Prada, not Chanel!" "DO I LOOK LIKE I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO?" He taught me how to tell the difference between several brands before we moved on to fighting skills. After he successfully kicked my arse several times, we stopped for lunch.

"For lunch, us mentors have to provide food. So today, we have…MACARONI AND CHEESE!" He produced two plastic containers and forks seemingly out of nowhere.

"It doesn't have mushrooms in it, right?" I said, warily inspecting mine. "I'm allergic." Seth started to snigger, and then unsuccessfully turned it into a cough. I tasted some. "Woah, this is _delicious_!" I cried.

Zach looked really smug. "I know, right? It's six Golds from the dairy up the road. Which, you now owe me."

"Suurrreee," I smiled, thinking he was joking.

He looked at me with a serious expression on his face. "I'm not kidding. You owe me six Golds."

"No way, dude,"

"No, seriously, I need six Golds for my ride home."

"But I don't have any money on me."

"Ok, then give it to me next time."

"Are you serious?"

"Actually, I'm not. Gottcha, didn't I?"

"You're weird."

"Sorry," he ate the last of his pasta. "You know, Levi, you know a lot more about your magic than I expected you to."

"You flatter me," I smiled.

Zach grinned. "I'm serious. You just need to fine-tune. Then we'll move on to some fun stuff."

"Like…?"

"Super-secret techniques. Healing. The like."

"I can't heal."

"Well," he looked up, an evil-ish grin on his face. "I can fix that."

"Suddenly, I'm scared."

"Honey, don't be."

We were supposed to finish at two, so until then Zach showed me some of his "kick-ass" moves, because he knew karate or something. I say 'kick-ass' in quotes, because they weren't all that great. At two Zach sent me back with a cheery grin. On the way I ran into Erika and Darren.

"Hi," I smiled.

"Hey," Erika smiled.

"How was your mentor?" Darren asked.

"He's awesome," I smiled. "And I have a feeling he might be gay."

"Nice," Erika nodded. "Mine is really uptight. She must fully support fascism. Slave-driver."

"Lovely," Darren remarked. "Mine is really nice."

""I keep forgetting to ask you what your magic is," Erika said.

"Spirit magic," Darren replied. "I can see auras-" auras are like a coloured, mini-atmosphere around a person "and stuff. And I can make stuff. See?" he clapped his hands together. There was a flash of black and gold light. He slowly separated his hands, and suspended in the middle, was a beautiful sunset-coloured rose. Erika and I applauded, and he bowed like a magician after a trick.

I guess it was because of the work I did in the morning, or because I couldn't sleep last night, but I was exhausted during the evening. I walked around like a zombie for a while, before deciding to miss dinner and get some shut-eye.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

My sleep last night was peaceful. My only dream was about a talking goldfish named Klaus. He was yelling at me, for some reason. I think it was because I was eating a tuna sandwich. Then Francine walked in and baked me a cake. Anyway, I woke up in the morning (it was Sunday, no classes, yay!) because my wings were cramping. I can assure you, there is no worse way to wake up. Unless somebody was cutting off a limb. Which would be quite gruesome. And painful. Huh. Another tangent. So I got up and my wings were cramping. I started yelping and tried to stretch them out as far as I could, but the compactness of the room was not helping. I had to go out and fly. I yanked on a pair of skinny jeans (black, the most flattering colour _ever_) and a grey v-necked sweater over my green/brown plaid shirt. What can I say? Plaid shirts are _warm_, especially in winter. I finished my outfit with a scarf, gloves, and checkered high tops. I left a note for Carly, who was still sleeping (she sleeps so much, I swear, she must be nocturnal or something), grabbed my phone and some money, and went outside. There was a blanket of fresh powdery snow on the ground and luckily, there were no clouds in the sky. I've had bad experiences with flying and clouds. The small, white, fluffy clouds that float in the sky were perfect to fly through. The gigantic, white/grey clouds with the flat bottom and cauliflower tops were definitely not perfect to fly through. I accidently flew through one when I was younger. I was soaked, buffeted, nearly struck be lightning, and the water on my wing froze. So now I have a perfectly rational fear of flying through big clouds.

I jumped up, and with a powerful beat of my wings, I shot up into the sky. I felt the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through my veins and grinned widely. I had forgotten how amazing it was to fly. Do you know the feeling you get on a rollercoaster, while it's rushing up and down tracks? Flying is a trillion times better than that. You can create your own mid-air rollercoaster, which I did, until my wings fully stopped cramping.

I'd flown out of school grounds, and was now hovering over some park in the middle of the city. Looking around, I saw many other people (sorry, angels- no, wait, one of them had bat wings) also flying around, making the most of the bright sunshine. The flying had made me a bit parched, and I'd missed breakfast, so I swooped down to a nearby dairy and bought me some food.

When I started to fly back, I saw a couple of people I'd seen in a few of my classes playing a game of mid-air snowball war, a fun, but rather dangerous spin on a popular classic. I was about to ask if I could join when I noticed a black shadow fly up right beside me. "Hey," Sebastian smiled.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"Nice day, huh?" he replied.

"I see you are making fine use of this rare, sunny day," I said. I had to admit, it was pretty good to see him. Although it had been four years, he seemed unchanged. Same hair, same flawless skin (jerk), same everything. Apart from the fact that he was now a towering giant. In fact, everyone but me was a towering giant. Why? Why can't I be a towering giant too? But as I was saying before… sure, he seemed the same, but something was different…

"…Hello? Levi? Dude, are you even listening to me?" Sebastian said, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Oh, sorry. Sometimes I just tune out," I said. "What were you saying before?"

"Just that it's good to see you again," he replied. "I like what you've done to your hair."

"Oh, thanks," I mumbled, feeling self-conscious. "Yeah, it's pretty good to see you again. You haven't changed one bit."

"Aww, gee, thanks!" Sebastian giggled, in a mock fashionista voice. Yep, he definitely hasn't changed.

"Don't ever do that again," I sighed. "People will think you're gay. Wait a second, you aren't, are you?

"No, but what's wrong with being gay?"

"Nothing. It would just explain your many fashionista tendencies."

"I don't have fashionista tendencies!"

"Um, yeah, you do." We were flying back to school now, and I noticed huge clouds starting to blow in. "Oh great. Another snowstorm."

"Oh come on!" Sebastian cried. "Winter's supposed to end tomorrow! Why?"

"Winter wants to leave with a bang," I remarked.

"Better bolt the doors and windows again," he sighed. The snowstorms around here tend to be like hurricanes. With snow instead of rain. And don't forget the high speed winds. Sigh.

We landed in school by the library. "Well, it was nice meeting up again," I smiled.

"Yep," he nodded.

"So I'll see you later, then."

"Yep."

"Bye!"

"Bye!" he skipped away. He was in a really good mood today. I'd like to flatter myself and think that I was the cause of it. I went to a pretty overcrowded common room and found Erika and Carly sitting on beanbags, playing a rather intense game of Last Card. I plonked myself down on one when Erika leapt up triumphantly and Carly threw down her cards in disgust.

"I WIN!" Erika cried happily. "Hi, Levi!"

"No, you cheated! You had three cards before, not one." Carly replied irritably. "How was your flying session?"

"Great, thanks," I smiled. "I see your game ended badly…"

"Yeah, 'cause Erika's a cheater," Carly remarked.

"Am not!" Erika pouted.

"Calm down kids, be nice," I said.

"Make us," They replied in unison, sticking their tongues out at me.

"Wow, you guys' maturity is definitely shining through," I muttered sarcastically. I ended up joining their rematch of Last Card, and then we started talking.

"Did you know that odontophobia is the fear of teeth?" Erika remarked, casually picking up a card.

"…Um, okay?" Carly said, putting down a card.

"You people are weird," I said. "Last card."

"What? No!" they both cried.

"Oh, you guys better believe it," I grinned, waving my card around. "I'm gonna win!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Erika muttered, furiously going through her cards. Don't worry, people. I won regardless. We couldn't have another rematch because we realised we were starving and decided to go have lunch.

"Where are Darren, Mikhael and Kyle?" I asked while we ate. Lunch today was pizza (yum!).

"They're in my basement," Carly said nonchalantly.

"Huh," I muttered, chewing my pizza.

"We haven't seen them at all today," Erika clarified. "For all we know, they probably _are _in her basement,"

"Great to know." I snorted.

"Actually, we challenged them to a snowball fight earlier today," Carly said. "We fully kicked their asses. They must've cut tail and ran."

"Those cowards," Erika muttered. Both she and Carly looked pretty murderous.

"Ahahaha…" I nervously laughed, a bit creeped out. They looked pretty scary.

It turned out that they had actually been playing video games after they had sorely lost, three against two. ("Nope, the losers are there," Carly had said, quite coldly in fact, when they walked into the dining room.) The rest of the evening passed without incident, but I think Erika caught a stomach bug because she said she wasn't feeling too good after a while and went to bed early. Carly and I checked on her after a while, and she seemed ok. She probably just needed a good night's sleep to get over whatever she had caught.

The pain was unbearable. It felt like her insides were being set on fire and simultaneously microwaved. She curled up into a ball under her sheets. Its ok, she told herself. It'll go away after a while. You know that. The day after the Sealing is always the worst. But that thought didn't lessen the pain. Even though she'd popped a couple of painkillers before going to bed, it still hurt pretty badly.

The only plus side to all this torture was that she could just pass it off as a stomach bug. No-one really suspected thing. As far as everyone knew, she was sick. Which was perfect. She didn't want to go through all this pain just for them to find out what she really was.

She felt her magic try to rise up and cringed as it was forced back down. It was really quite temperamental, her magic. It didn't irritate her like this on other days. She guessed it was just miffed that she would dare it away.

She heard the door gently creak open and slowly opened her eyes. Looking up, she saw them both, one with long mocha hair, the other with short ebony, blue-streaked hair, staring at her worriedly.

"Are you sure you're ok? You don't need to go to the nurse?" Carly whispered.

Erika grimaced as another wave of magic tried to rise up again. "Yeah," she whispered back. "This happens sometimes. I just need some sleep. Then I'll be ok."

They both looked doubtful. "Well," Levi whispered. "If you say so." They made their way out. Erika grimaced again and shut her eyes. Just remember, it'll be better in a while, she thought. Just wait.

**Aww, poor Erika! Want to know what's going on with her? Well, it'll come out soon enough, I think. It depends when I decide to write about it XD**

**Sorry that Darren, Kyle and Mikhael got almost zero air-time in this chapter. They're pretty miffed about it, actually. Don't worry though. They'll make more of an appearance next chapter :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Guess what? I'm not dead! Sorry Vampire-At-Heart, I was going to message you, but I couldn't find the message button thing (sigh) But thanks for reviewing! And without further ado, here is Chapter 10! :D**

Chapter 10:

Kyle strode into the dining room, looking quite pleased with himself and whistling a happy tune. Carly, Erika and Levi gave him an odd look as he sat down at their table.

"Dude, why are you even awake? Its like, 7:30 in the morning on a _Monday_," Carly said. It was pretty unheard of for Kyle to be out of bed before eight, especially on a Monday.

"Well, I could ask you the exact same question, sis," Kyle countered. Carly was just like him when it came to sleeping in. She scowled at him.

"Hey, where are Darren and Mikhael?" Levi asked, looking around.

"I dunno," Kyle shrugged nonchalantly. Carly, Levi and Erika shared a look.

"What did you do now?" Carly glared.

Kyle had an image of Darren and Mikhael stuck in a cage made of writhing shadows. "Nooothing…" he shrugged. "Why do you assume it's me?"

"Because its you?" Erika replied.

Kyle pretended to look hurt. "I am so offended that you would think something as horrible as that of me. You hurt me so much… nah, I really can't be stuffed."

"Mondayitis," Erika nodded. "But seriously, where are they?"

"Seriously, I dunno." He checked his pocket. "Damn, forgot my phone. Be right back. Try not to miss me much." He walked out and stopped at the base of the stairs.

"Kyle! Douchebag! Wait up!" Carly came out of the dining room and headed towards him.

"What do you think I'm doing, idiot? Am I sprinting away?" Kyle snorted. He knew Carly would follow him. It was a twin thing, he guessed.

"Sorry, sorry." Carly walked up and they started up the stairs. "So, what really happened to Darren and Mikhael?"

Kyle sighed. "Well," he began. "You know how vampires and werewolves hate each other just for existing? And you know how Darren and Mikhael can get when they're arguing?"

Carly shook her head. "Not a clue," she replied.

"Oh, wait. You didn't see them," Kyle said. "Anyway, at about three in the morning, they started arguing again. They were pretty close to throwing punches. So I got up, feeling really pissed 'cause they woke me up with their bickering, and stuck them in one of my shadow cages." 'Shadow Cage' was one of Kyle's original moves. It basically trapped someone in a cage made of shadows. "I told them I wouldn't let them out until they apologized and became friends. Or at least acquaintances. So now I'm going up to check if they have."

"That's a good way to get them to stop fighting," Carly remarked.

Kyle grinned. "Yeah, it is. Aren't I smart?"

"Yeah, no." Carly shook her head as they reached the floor Kyle's room was on. One of the doors was slightly ajar and a couple of black feathers littered the floor. "Is that Sebastian's room?" Carly asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, it is," Kyle replied. "He sheds feathers a LOT. Seriously, everywhere he goes, there is a pile of black feathers around him. I wonder if Levi does, too?"

"I doubt it," Carly replied. "I would know if she shed feathers like a dog sheds- wait, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kyle asked.

"Shush! That," Carly replied. Kyle heard something that sounded like hushed voices coming from Sebastian's room.

"Maybe he's talking to his roommate," Kyle suggested. "No, wait. He doesn't have a roommate."

"Really? What a loner," Carly said.

"I think that's why he keeps following us," Kyle said. "Have you noticed how he just randomly shows up wherever we go?"

"Yeah, its kinda creepy. And weird." Carly nodded. "Now what?" They shared a look, then headed toward the open door.

Kyle peeked in, looking for the source of all the talking. He saw Sebastian and nearly jumped. Sebastian had this mad, deranged expression on his face, and was laughing. Not happy, that-joke-was-so-funny laughing, but, I'm-gonna-kill-you-and-wear-your-skin laughing. He was talking to a mirror – not a good sign for his sanity. "Dude, I think he's lost it," Kyle muttered to Carly. She looked around, saw Sebastian, and jumped.

"I think he's lost it, too," she whispered back. "I think we should get a teacher or something." All of a sudden, Sebastian straightened. The crazed expression on his face disappeared. He looked normal. "Let's skedaddle on out of here before he sees us and goes all crazy on us," Carly whispered again.

""Skedaddle"?" Kyle frowned at her as they practically ran away from the door.

"Oh, shut up," Carly snorted. They came up to Kyle's room and he opened the door. Darren and Mikhael were sitting on the floor of the cage, laughing. When they saw Kyle, they stopped, giving him a death glare.

"When we get out of here, you are dead. D-E-A-D," Darren snarled.

"I know how to spell the word 'dead'," Kyle snorted. "You don't have to spell it for me,"

"Seriously, man, I'm going to kill you when I get out of here," Mikhael glared.

"If you're both going to kill me when you guys get out of here, then I won't let you out," Kyle shrugged.

"We take that back," Darren said quickly. 

"Yeah, dude, just kidding," Mikhael agreed. "We were joking. We're not actually gonna kill you."

"Well, Carly, do they look remotely like friends now?" Kyle said.

"Yeah, let them out," Carly shrugged.

"Yeah, let us out," Mikhael nodded.

"What's the magic word…?" Kyle grinned evilly.

"KYLE." Carly said. "LET THEM OUT."

"'Kay, 'kay. Give me a sec." He cancelled the spell. Darren and Mikhael sighed with relief. "And if you two ever start arguing at three in the morning again, I will sew your mouths shut," Kyle threatened. "Don't think I won't, because I will."

"Its ok, we won't," Darren said.

"Urgh, school," Mikhael groaned.

"We'll wait outside," Kyle said. "You guys get ready." Carly and him walked outside. A couple of minutes later Darren and Mikhael came out.

"I don't think we should hang out with Sebastian anymore," Carly said in a low voice as they started walking.

"Why?" Mikhael asked.

"Well, as we were coming up here, we saw him in his room and he looked completely _insane_. Like, deranged-look-in-eye, crazy-laughter insane." Kyle said.

"He was talking to a mirror," Carly added.

"You guys remember when Erika and I went to the shop, before school started?" Darren began. "Well, we saw Sebastian in this room and he was threatening that guy, um, the one at the interviews with the – no wait, Mr Fairchild. That's his name. They were arguing, and Mr Fairchild looks terrified. Then Erika looked like she was going to be sick, so we left."

"Weird," Kyle said. "I think Sebastian needs to learn to keep doors shut whenever he decides to go whacko."

"Agreed," Carly nodded.

"We should probably tell Erika and Levi about this," Mikhael said.

"Yeah," Darren agreed. "Speaking of Erika, how is she? She looked like death walking yesterday."

"She's fine," Carly replied. "She looks normal. She told us that it happens to her a lot- defective immune system or something. I dunno."

"That's good," Darren shrugged as they reached the dining room.

**Chapter 10 done :D**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Valentine stood in front of a huge, wall-mounted mirror, lost completely in thought. His spy in Richmond had just delivered a perfect report. Everything was going according to plan. His dementor army was ready and waiting. All that was left was to do was to get an 'ok' from HQ, and he was set.

Valentine was an independent man; however he had put aside his hate for cooperation for this particular operation. After he'd been killed by the Angel Raziel, he'd found himself in this world, thanks to a warlock named Billy. When he'd stabbed Billy through the heart a few months ago, Billy had cursed him so that when he died, he would come back to life in a different world. Billy thought it was a curse. Valentine thought it was a blessing. 

When he awoke in this world, Valentine had met a man named Mr. Grey. Mr Grey worked for the Angel Militia. Valentine hadn't _really_ listened to what the Militia was about, but Mr Grey had picked him up to make a deal. If Valentine captured and brought them some girl with special magic, they'd send him back to Earth. Back where his dear wife, daughter and adopted son lived. He could see them, lounging around in Jocelyn's apartment. He could imagine the shock on their faces, the surprise in their eyes as he killed them. A twisted smile appeared on his face. He could not wait.

An image appeared on the mirror of a short, pudgy looking man with beady eyes, salt and pepper hair and a charcoal pinstriped suit. "Ah, Mr Grey," Valentine amicably. "So good to see you again."

"Hmm, yes, Valentine." Mr Grey was, at the best of times, aggravatingly blunt. Valentine did not appreciate the way he passed him off, as if he was some lowly criminal. "How's it going?"

"Very well," he replied. "My troops are ready and waiting. I wanted to know if we could attack now."

Mr Grey's eyes looked like they were going to pop. "What?" he cried. "You cannot attack! We aren't ready!"

"Ready for what?" Valentine said curiously.

"We have to prepare the ring first!" Mr Grey said. "The ring that she's trapped in, so that when you bring the girl we can extract her magic and free her!"

Oh yes, Valentine thought dully. You insidious, boring plot. "Oh yes," he said aloud. "But why can't we kidnap her now? She's just fit in to school. We shouldn't let her get too comfortable before we rip her from her normal life." I'm getting soft, Valentine thought. There was a time when he couldn't care less about other people's feelings.

Mr Grey was obviously at that stage. "So?" he said. "We can get her whenever we want. Richmond is corrupt enough. We could even get her in broad daylight."

"I just think it would be easier if we got her now," Valentine argued.

Mr Grey glared at him. "Okay, _Valentine_," he said his name with a sneer. "_You_ aren't calling the shots here. _I_ am."

"Technically, you aren't calling the shots either. Isn't the woman trapped in the ring the one who's calling the shots?" Valentine couldn't resist the jibe. A vein throbbed at Mr Grey's temple.

"You will _not_ attack yet," he practically snarled. "You will wait until the orders come through before attacking. Do you understand?"

"Alright," Valentine relented, for now. The image disappeared, and Valentine was once again staring at his reflection. He noticed, with disdain, a thick grey streak through his jet black hair. With a sigh he turned and left the room. He'd have to find some way to appease the dementors. They were so excited that they were going to attack. Not anymore.

Monday morning. I was nursing a cup of coffee and it looked like Erika was sleeping on the table. We were waiting for Carly, Kyle, Mikhael and Darren to arrive here, but they were taking so long! School was going to start in five minutes and they still weren't here. "Where do you think they are?" I asked Erika. When she didn't respond, I kicked her under the table. "Oi, wake up,"

"That hurt," Erika muttered, kicking me under the table. "I don't know, and I don't care where they went. I just want to sleep."

"Still feeling sick?" I asked. She was really sick yesterday. Then she woke up this morning looking absolutely fine.

"Nope, I told you, I'm fine," Erika yawned. "It happens sometimes, ok? I get really sick. Then I get better. It's nothing."

"Are you sure? I mean, what if you actually had a cancerous tumour growing inside you or something?"

"I do not have a cancerous tumour growing inside me. That's really sick, by the way."

"Oh, shut up. It is possible." The bell signalling the start of school rang. We both got up and stretched, yawning.

"Looks like they'll be late," I remarked as we made our way to out first class, which was History. Strangely enough, they were already there.

"Where have you guys been?" Erika asked them.

"Killing pigeons," Kyle replied. We gave him an odd look. "What? Pigeons are disgusting. They're rats with wings. They should be exterminated." He said the last part like the Terminator.

"Ok, Hitler, calm down," I said. "Just because they're different, doesn't mean they should be exterminated."

Kyle opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but then our teacher walked in and started droning on about something. I don't know what it was, I fell asleep. In fact, I think everyone in our class fell asleep during that lesson. Our teacher didn't even notice. I had a feeling that I would fail History. Hopefully, that feeling was wrong. Our lesson ended on the bell, which acted as an alarm clock and woke us all up, and our teacher gave us homework – a nine hundred word essay on what we had gone over in class, due in on Wednesday.

"We're screwed," Darren sighed, looking at his piece of paper. "Oh hey! It's something about Angels! Levi, you'll help us ace this, right?"

"Huh?" I checked my sheet. It said something about a war one hundred years ago between people and angels. "Yes, because I was around 100 years ago so I'll _definitely _know all about this."

"They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit," Mikhael remarked casually.

"At least I have wit," I retorted.

Luckily, we didn't get any homework from any of our other classes. It was actually quite a calm school day. With a promise from Ms. Potions teacher (whose name I cannot remember right now) that we would make things explode later on in the week and another promise from Mr. Awesome-Defence-Against-The-Dark-Arts teacher (whose name I also cannot remember right now) that he would teach us how to beat up monsters, our week was looking pretty good.

We were sitting in the library after school finished, looking up what exactly we were supposed to write about for the essay. Erika and Carly were looking it up on a computer, I had grabbed a couple of books and Darren, Mikhael and Kyle were playing cards. "I say we don't help them," Carly said.

"I second that notion," I replied while Erika nodded.

"Ok, get this," Erika said began. "100 years ago, Angels used to rule the world." I pumped my fists. "Shut up, Levi. Then, a treaty was signed for humans to rule. Most angels agreed with it, but there was a group called the Angel Militia who disagreed and started the war."

"Hey, I've heard of them!" I said, surprised. "They try and get angels to join. They're basically terrorists. They talk about world domination and whatnot. Its really irritating."

Carly looked at the screen. "It says here that- huh? What?" The screen had gone blank. "Why is the screen blank?"

"It means you time on the computer is up, hun," A passing librarian kindly informed us.

"Damn, no! We aren't finished!" Erika cried.

"So, what did you guys find out?" Darren asked. They were still playing cards.

"Nothing," I muttered as Carly, Erika and I got up and left.

"I say we let them fail," Carly said irritably.

"We will not help them at all," Erika vowed.

"Agreed," I nodded.

**Ahhh I'm sorry this chapter's probably quite boring. Stuff will be explained in better detail in the next few chapters. Bear with me, filler stuff is actually important. I can't just jump from A to B, because that wouldn't work. Anywho enjoy! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Tuesday morning was warm. Snow started to melt, and I'm pretty sure I saw some squirrels when I opened my window. _Finally! _I thought with a sigh. _It's spring!_

Although the snow was melting, and the sun was shining with a vengeance, it was still pretty freaking cold. Carly, Erika and I were huddling under warm coats slurping hot chocolate in the dining room waiting for the guys when I spotted Sebastian walking in. I raised my hand to wave when Carly grabbed it and yanked it down.

"Hey!" I protested. "What are you doing?"

"There is a good reason for this," Carly said seriously while Erika watched, curious.

"And that is…?" I prompted.

"Yesterday, after Kyle and I, uh, let's say _found _Darren and Mikhael, we saw Sebastian and um, just s a question, when you were friends with him before, did he ever just spaz out insanely in front of mirrors?" Carly enquired nonchalantly.

"He spazzed out in front of a mirror?" I asked, kinda shocked.

"I'll take that as a 'No', and yes, he was," Carly replied. "He looked kinda like-" she started twitching and jerking with an insane look in her eye. She actually looked like she had some sort of mental illness.

"Damn, that is one good impersonation," Erika remarked.

"You think that was good? You should see Kyle's," Carly said. "He does this thing where his tongue hangs out a little, and it looks like he's gonna drool. Anyway, Sebastian's probably bipolar, has insanity issues and is probably quite dangerous."

"Huh," I said. "Well, he did seem a bit different,'

"You're being pretty accepting," Erika remarked. "Aren't you gonna defend him? He is your friend."

"I haven't seen him in four years," I replied. "He could've gone all psycho-Satanic-cult for all I know."

"Good point," Carly nodded.

"Speaking of evil," I began. "I remembered more stuff about that Angel Militia group."

"Oh cool," Erika said. "We can finish that essay. When was it due, by the way?" Blank stares. "That's what I thought. Anyway, continue please, Levi."

"Well," I said. "They were founded by this pure-blooded Angel chick named Dora." I stopped. "Any Dora the Explorer jokes? No? Ok. I'll continue. Well, she was a racist ol'cow who hated the fact that humans ruled. Did I mention she was an extremely powerful and immortal sorceress? Well, she was. She formed the Angel Militia as a terrorist group. Then a bunch of human sorcerers sealed her away in a ring and hid the ring. So the Angel Militia exists purely to find the ring, break her out of it, and rule the world."

"Lovely," Carly sighed.

"But how would they break the ring? I'm sure there would be a pretty strong seal on it to stop a powerful, immortal sorceress from breaking out," Erika asked.

"Breakfast?" One of the waitresses waltzed past as we shook our heads.

"Destruction magic," I said. Carly gave me a blank look. "People with extra-powerful magic. Like, if a person with destruction magic touched say, a wall, the wall would disintegrate. At an atomic level."

"I guess that would work," Carly nodded. "But how would they live if everything they touch disintegrates at an atomic level?"

"They seal off their magic so they seem normal," Erika answered. "Otherwise," she held up a finger. "One, they'd destroy everything, and two, everyone would hassle them about stuff. Kinda like they do with Levi. You know, 'fix this!', 'break that!' and whatnot."

"Oh, I see," Carly said. "Thanks!"

"No problem," Erika smiled.

"How do you know so much about that?" I asked. "I didn't know they were hassled."

Erika hesitated. "My cousin had destruction magic," she said sadly. "Army generals and whatnot would hassle her, asking her if she'd help them win a battle or assassinate someone. It was really sad, because she was really nice and hated destroying things. She went into hiding. Can't blame her, really."

"I'm sorry," I said. There was something fishy about that statement. I dunno what it was, but there just was. Maybe she was just upset about her cousin. But I let it pass.

"Hi, y'all," Kyle, Darren and Mikhael walked to our table. "What are you guys up to?"

"Working on an Excellence essay," Erika said. "I swear, we are gonna ace this!"

"And we get it back, and its got a big red 'FAIL' on it," I giggled.

Erika pretended to look outraged. "But I spent an hour on it!" she said in mock outrage. "An _hour_! I could've been watching Dr Who instead!"

"I love Dr Who!" Carly and Kyle cried in unison.

"So do I!" I cried.

"It is so epic!" Mikhael cried.

"What's Dr Who?" Darren asked, looking confused. Five pairs of shocked eyes turned to him.

"You don't know what Dr Who is?" Erika said in a deadly voice.

"No," Darren said, looking scared. "Should I?"

"Should you?" we yelled back. We spent the rest of the day screaming Dr Who facts at him. The poor boy! How did he survive without the Doctor?

Valentine stood smirking at the mirror, watching Mr Gray pacing on the other side. "Well, Valentine," Mr Gray muttered. "It would appear that I was mistaken. You may proceed with the plan right away."

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Valentine enquired politely. "I've been having a bit of trouble with my hearing lately. Could you repeat yourself?" His smirk widened.

Mr Gray knew what he was doing. "I said, you may proceed with your plan. I mistakenly said not to when we last talked."

"I see." Valentine smirked. After Mr Gray's insulting behaviour yesterday, this was much better. Valentine preferred to see people grovelling at his feet or at least begging him when they wanted him to do something for them.

"So, Valentine, please proceed with your plan. We need the girl as soon as possible."

"And you will send me back after I hand her over?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good," Valentine smiled evilly. Revenge was just around the corner. "You may leave now."

Mr Gray gave him an odd look. "Ok," He said. "Your plan had better work." His image disappeared, leaving Valentine looking at his reflection. He reached over and drew a rune of the mirror, and an image of Sebastian apperared.

"Yes, my lord?" he asked.

"Its time," Valentine said simply. "Bring her, by tomorrow at the latest."

Sebastian grinned. "Of course." His image disappeared. Valentine smiled a smile that did not reach his eyes. _Finally_, he thought. _The day is almost here_.

**I'm sorry. I have no excuse. I took way to long to update, and I'm sorry. But hopefully this will be the last boring-ish filler chapter, cause I'm planning for some action stuff later. Keep an eye out! :D **

**And the Dr Who thing? I speak/write from experience. I do like Dr Who, I've watched a couple of episodes, but when I first asked about it, well, BAM. Ask my friends. **

**Thanks Vampire-At-Heart, Chemical Hope and KPEnchanted for the reviews. Reviews are always welcome. Come on guys! Review! They make my day. So yeah. Review. NOW. (glares) I'm watching you, so you better review!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Wednesday morning was cold again and Erika felt like a zombie trudging through a half-frozen forest. Her mentor had sent her a text telling her that her magic training was at the overgrown and possibly haunted far end of the school the day before so Erika had to ditch everyone to get there on time. A cold breeze started blowing making Erika shudder and pull her jacket more tightly around her.

For some reason, Erika was beginning to feel a bit freaked. The hairs on the back of her neck were starting to rise, she was feeling really cold and clammy and strangely depressed. She jumped about a mile when a squirrel leapt out of its hole and almost screamed when her foot brushed a tree root. _What is wrong with you?_ Erika thought. _Pull yourself together, man! Jeez! You're getting scared over nothing. It's not like some ghostly monster's gonna leap out and eat you. _

She heard a weird sort of rustling noise behind her and spun around. _Of course, _she thought, sighing inwardly. _There's a ghostly monster. Why me?_ Floating in front of her was a ghost, or at least that's what it appeared to be. It was at least three metres high, had a billowing black cloak with a lot of rips and tears in it and it was hissing at her. Not to mention it was slowly coming closer. Erika started backing away slowly, staring at it in horror. Something about it was really depressing. She felt frozen, not with cold, but with grief.

She spun around and ran for her life.

"Anyone seen Erika?" Carly asked, setting down her glass. It was lunchtime and we were eating in the common room in what we liked to call the beanbag corner, aka our corner.

"She did say she'd be a bit late," Darren said. "She had to go off somewhere, I dunno. Anyway, she'll probably be here soon." We all shrugged and went back to our food.

"Ok, for some weird reason, I think something might have happened to Erika," Carly said with a touch of sarcasm. Her and Mikhael were pacing the common room while Kyle, Darren and I sat down.

"Where could she be?" I said. "Wait, what's the time?"

"Four," Kyle replied.

"It's four in the evening and she's not back. She missed lunch. Maybe something happened to her."

"I say we go look for her," Mikhael said.

"Yeah, but all we know is that she went somewhere that-a-way," Kyle pointed out the window to the other end of the campus.

"Maybe we should be sensible about this and ask someone," Carly said. "I'm sure someone other than us has noticed her missing." There was a general murmur of agreement.

"'Kay then, lets go," I said.

"Sorry, who?" Dear old Julia (sigh) said from behind her desk.

"Erika Miller," I said. "Tall-ish, red hair, dark eyes. She hasn't come back from her magical practice yet, which was supposed to have finished over an hour ago."

Julia typed something on her computer. "Where did she go?"

"Somewhere 'round the back of school," Darren said.

"Around that forest that's there," Mikhael added.

Julia looked at us with a sigh. "Sorry kids, but my records say there was no Erika Miller at this school."

We all stared at her, shocked. Carly recovered first. "What?" she said. "Erika goes here. She's me and Levi's roommate."

"Are you sure?" Julia asked.

"Of course we're sure!" I said. "She definitely exists. Maybe your records are screwed up."

"Fine, I'll check again," Julia muttered. "I'll go check the files to see if she was here. In the meantime, you go check the forest in case she's still there. Which I doubt," she added under her breath. She looked up and saw all of us giving her the dirtiest look we could muster. "What?" she said. "Look, this has happened before. A kid's gone missing and it just turns out they ran away. Nothing big!"

"Of course its big!" Darren cried. "A person is _missing_. What if, there is a serial killer on the grounds who killed her and disposed of her body? What if the serial killer comes around here and kills us all? You can't just pass these things off like that!"

Julia looked at us. "Go check the forest, see if you can find her, and I'll see what I can do. Is that alright?"

"No, but we will," Carly said irritably.

"Where did you say she was supposed to be?" Julia added as we were walking away.

"The forest 'round back," Kyle replied.

"You kids do realise its haunted?" Julia asked.

We shared a look. "Haunted?" I said.

**Cliff-hanger time! Yay. Don't you guys just love cliff-hangers? And a Happy New Year to you all! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

"Haunted?" Darren scoffed. "I somehow doubt this place is haunted."

"Yeah, it's just a dark, creepy forest which we're exploring AT NIGHT."

"Technically, its still evening," Kyle said.

"Oh, shut up," I snorted. "As I was saying, there's no way it could be haunted," Note the sarcasm.

Little recap: Erika had gone missing in the forest at the edge of the school. So we were looking for her in said forest. Also, according to Julia, the Twilight-crazy office lady with a crush on my brother (*pukes*), Erika did not go to this school. I'm thinking their records are messed up.

"Hey, the full moon's coming up," Kyle said. "Mikhael, please don't turn into a werewolf and eat us,"

"Firstly, that's not a full moon, douche bag," Mikhael said. "And secondly, guys, if I do turn into a werewolf, then you just need to outrun Kyle 'cause he's the one I'll eat first."

"Wow, you're such a great friend," Kyle muttered sarcastically.

Carly shuddered. "This feels so Blair-Witch-Project-y," she said.

"Yeah, all we need is a video camera," Kyle said.

"What's the Blair Witch Project?" Darren made the mistake of asking.

"This freaky horror movie about these three people trying to make a documentary about the Blair Witch, who lives in a forest like this one, and then the Blair Witch kills them all. In the scariest way possible."

"Lovely," I muttered.

"Sorry I asked," Darren said.

As we walked deeper into the forest, the shadows became darker, the echoes were louder and I had the creepiest feeling we ere being watched.

"Do you guys get the feeling we're being watched?" I said.

"It's probably just your imagination," Kyle said.

"Dude, you shouldn't say that!" Darren said. "What if something really was there? You've lulled us into a false sense of security, making it easier for the evil thing to attack us. Jeez man!"

Kyle glared at him. "Slenderman's behind you."

Darren let out a huge scream and leapt behind Mikhael.

"Who's Slenderman?" I asked.

"Another time, another place." Carly said. "You _really_ don't want to know right now."

"Hey, Erika's scent!" Darren and Mikhael said in unison. "It just got really strong!"

"Look!" Kyle said, pointing. "Snapped twigs."

"And her scarf," I said, untangling it from a bush.

"So she was running from something…" Carly said.

"There's something over there!" Mikhael cried suddenly, pointing to some bushes behind us. Darren, Kyle, Carly and I jumped with fright and clutched each other. When we looked at where Mikhael was pointing, there was nothing there.

"M-maybe it was an owl?" Kyle stammered.

"No way," Mikhael said. "It was big and wore a hooded cape."

"Maybe it was a flying owl wearing a hooded cape?" Carly said.

"Why would an owl wear a hooded cape?" Darren asked.

"Would you rather I said a ghost or witch or something of that sort, Mr Rational?" Carly snapped.

"You make a good point," Darren said.

"Maybe we should just keep walking and pretend we didn't see anything," I suggested.

"Sure, until it come back and eats us," Mikhael said. We all stared at him. "What? I'm just sayin'."

"You are not helping!" I hissed.

"Maybe we should just follow Mikhael and Darren who are following Erika's scent. Does that sound good?" Kyle said. Our agreement was murmured.

And so, we went deeper and deeper into the forest. NowDarren and Mikhael said there was something fishy about Erika's scent. Apparently it just smelt wrong.

"Um, quick question," Kyle said as it started to snow. "We _do _know the way back, right?"

Mikhael gave him a dirty look. "Do you doubt my sense of smell?"

"No," Kyle replied. "It's just that it's snowing again. Meaning our footprints and scent will be hidden under a blanket of snow."

Mikhael thought about it for a minute. "No, I'll still smell it," he said. "If worst comes to worst, Levi can fly up and tell us where to go."

"Hey!" I said indignantly just as Darren and Carly froze.

"Guys, shut up, I thought I heard something," Darren said, holding up his hand. We were silent for a moment, and then we heard a twig snap. Then another one. And another.

"They're getting closer," Carly muttered. All of us assumed some sort of fighting/running stance, just in case. Then a twig snapped in the bushes right in front of us and out tumbled…Sebastian?

Huh?

On seeing us staring at him, Sebastian immediately assumed a casual stance and an air of nonchalance. "Fancy seeing you guys here," he said.

"What are you doing here?' Kyle said.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sebastian said.

"We're looking for Erika. You?"

"Just wandering around. Aimlessly. I wander aimlessly around supposedly haunted forests at night. Cause I'm badass like that. Kthanxbai!" he ran off.We stared at each other, confused.

"Did he just talk to us in text language?" Carly asked, looking confused.

"We told you he was crazy," Kyle tutted.

"Oh my gosh, he really is!" I gasped.

"All joking aside, there was something really odd about that," Mikhael said.

"What, Sebastian randomly appearing out of nowhere and leaving just as quickly as he appeared? Naw, 'cause that's not odd at all." Kyle said, "Sarcsm hand."

"Very funny," Mikhael snorted. "I meant, it was odd because of how he smelled."

"Cut the suspense crap and spill," Carly ordered.

"Ok, ok. Calm down. It's kinda weird and suspicious, but I'm almost 100% sure that Erika's scent was on his jacket."


End file.
